Light And Darkness
by fireicegirl16
Summary: Alena finds a raven mocker and feelings are sparked. But he was of the dark and she is of the light. Can they look past the differences and be together or will they be separated. A recap of the house of night series
1. Alena 1

She saw Stevie Rae bark out orders to the other guys while she just watched and listened to her high priestess.

So much has happened; she met Stevie Rae when she was turned into a fledging. Stevie Rae helped her and was super nice to her. Then, Zoey came and the both of them became really close.

She saw the closeness and slowly she became isolated. She knew Stevie Rae was becoming best friends, something she always wanted but never had, so she didn't impose.

Alena was sweet and calm. She always loved to help people and always wanted to be the best for her high priestess.

She was actually glad she became a fledging, it took her away from her boring life, where she barely had any friends but she didn't care. She had her mother, her mother who was always there for her.

She felt something in her lungs and it became hard to breathe as she thought of her mother. She slowly and mentally counted number in her mind before she could crumple in on herself.

She touched the tattoos that framed her right side of the side, signaling she was a transformed vampyre.

She was a red vampyre just like Stevie Rae with the only ability she had was to create force fields with her mind.

She hadn't realized she was so into thought when Stevie Rae called her name over again.

"Alena? Alena Lucia?" Stevie Rae asked.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, what did you say?" Alena asked as she felt embarrassed.

"I said, I need you to go down along the tree row by twenty first and check out f there are more raven mockers."

"Oh, um okay…"

"You'll be okay?" Stevie Rae asked, remembering that Alena was a loner but really nice and sweet.

"Yeah, I'll be okay."

"Alright, y'all meet me in front of Mary's grotto in half an hour or so. Holler loud if you find anything and we'll all come runnin'"

She watched as they each took off in each different direction. She felt jealous that Stevie Rae was dating Dallas, wishing she had someone to love for besides her mother.

_They really do make a cute couple, _she thought as she trudged through the grove of old tress that ringed Mary's grotto and buffered the abbey's land from busy Twenty first Street.

She hadn't gone a dozen paces before her long honey colored wavy waist length hair with blonde streaks within her bangs that were swept to the side, were completely soaked.

Water was dripping off of her everywhere. She backhanded her face, wiping off the cold, wet mixture of rain and ice.

Everything was so weirdly dark and silent. It was weird that there was no streetlight working. No cars or TPD were visible. She slipped and slid down the incline.

Her feet met road and only one her super-good red vampyre night vision kept her oriented.

Feeling skittish, she backhanded the sopping wet hair from her face again and pulled herself together just like her mama always had taught her.

Alena kicked at a broken, ice covered branch. Squinting and cupping her hand over her jade colored eyes to try to shield them from the sting of the icy rain, she peered up into the branches of the tree.

Even with the darkness and the storm, her eyesight like any other red fledging, was good, and she was relieved not to see any big dark bodies lurking above her.

She made her way down Twenty first street heading away from the abbey, all the while keeping her eyes up.

It wasn't until she was almost at the fence line that divided the nuns' property from the upscale condo beside it that she smelled it.

Blood.

A wrong kind of Blood.

She stopped, looking almost feral, She sniffed the air. It was filled with wet musty scent of ice as it coated the earth, the crisp, cinnamon smell of the winter trees, and the man made tang of the asphalt beneath her feet.

She ignored those scents and instead focused on the blood.

It wasn't human blood, or even fledging blood, so it didn't smell like sunlight and spring,- honey and chocolate- love and life and everything that she'd ever dreamed of.

No, this blood smelled too dark. Too thick. There was too much of something in it that wasn't human. But it was still blood, and it drew her, even though she knew the wrongness of it deep in her soul,

It was the scent of something strange, something otherworldly that led her to the first splashes of crimson.

In the stormy darkness of the sunless predawn, even her enhanced vision saw it only as wet splotches against the ice that sheeted the road and covered the grass beside it.

But she knew it was blood. A lot of blood.

But there was no animal or human lying there bleeding.

Instead there was a trail of liquid darkness thickening in the sheeting ice, moving away from the street and into the densest part of the grove behind the abbey.

Her predator's instinct kicked in instantly. Alena moved stealthily, hardly breathing, hardly making a sound, as she tracked down the blood path.

It was beneath one of the largest trees that she found it, hunkered down under a huge, newly broken branch as if it had dragged itself there to hide and die.

Alena felt a shudder of fear pass through her. It was a raven Mocker.

The creature was huge. Bigger than she'd thought they'd looked from a distance. It lay on its side, head tucked down against the ground, so she couldn't see its face very well.

The giant wing she could see looked wrong, obviously broken, and the human arm that lay beneath it was weirdly angled and covered with blood. Its legs were human, too, and curled up like it had died in a fetal position.

She remembered hearing Darius firing a gun as he and Z and the gang had ridden like bats outta hell down Twenty-first to the abbey. So, he'd shot it from the sky.

"Damn," she said under her breath. "That must've been one heck of a fall."

Alena cupped her hands around her mouth and was getting ready to holler for Stevie Rae so she and the other guys could help her drag the body somewhere when the Raven Mocker twitched and opened its eyes.

She froze. The two of them stared at each other. The creature's red eyes widened, looking surprised and impossibly human in the bird face.

There was something about those eyes that made her feel something, as if she was in a dream.

They flicked around her and behind her, checking to see if she was alone. Automatically, Alena crouched, putting her hands up defensively. And then he spoke.

"Kill me. End this," he gasped, panting in pain.

The sound of his voice was so human, so completely unexpected that she dropped her hands and staggered a step back.

"You can talk!" she blurted.

Then the Raven Mocker did something that utterly shocked her and irrevocably changed the course of her life.

He laughed.

It was a dry, sarcastic sound, and it ended in a moan of pain. But it was laughter, and it framed his words with humanity.

"Yes," he said between gasps for breath. "I talk. I bleed. I die. Kill me and be done with it." He tried to sit up then, as if he were eager to meet his death and the movement caused him to cry out in agony.

His too-human eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the frozen ground, unconscious.

Alena moved before she remembered even making the decision. When she reached him, she only hesitated for a second.

He'd passed out facedown, so it was a simple thing for her to move his wings aside and grab him under his arms.

He was big, really big—like, as big as a real guy, and she'd braced herself for him to be heavy, but he wasn't.

Actually, he was so light that it was super-easy to drag him, which was what she found herself doing while her mind screamed at her: _What the hell? What the hell?_ _What the hell?_

What the hell was she doing?

She didn't know. All she knew was what she _wasn't _doing. She wasn't killing the Raven Mocker.


	2. Zoey 2

Alena walked over to where everyone else was gathered, trying to put out the raven mocker out of her mind and hoping he was safe where he was.

Stevie Rae thought she looked pale. As Alena got closer to me, she smelled something strange, but her grin made her face change to her familiar self.

Alena just listened as Stevie Rae and Zoey talked.

"Z, did that big ol' girl scream I heard come from you?"

"Uh, yeah." Zoey couldn't help grinning back at Stevie Rae. "I was inside the tunnel and I didn't expect to run into the Twins and Aphrodite."

"Well, that makes sense. Aphrodite is kinda booger monstery," Stevie Rae said.

Zoey laughed, and then, grabbing the opportunity to change the subject, she said, "Uh, speaking of monsters, did you find any Raven Mockers left up there?"

Stevie Rae's eyes shifted towards Alena.

"It's all safe. Nothin' for you to worry about," she said quickly.

"I'm so glad," Sister Mary Angela was saying. "Those creatures were such an abomination—mixing man and beast." She shivered. "I'm relieved we are rid of them."

"But it wasn't their fault," Alena said abruptly.

"Pardon me?" The nun looked more than a little confused at Alena's defensive tone.

"They didn't ask to be born like they were—all mixed up because of rape and evil. They really were victims."

"I don't feel sorry for them," Zoey said, wondering why Alena sounded like she was standing up for the nasty Raven Mockers.

Damien shivered. "Do we have to talk about them?"

"Nope, we don't," Alena said quickly, avoiding Stevie Rae hard wondering gaze.

"Good, and anyway, the reason I brought Zoey down here was to show her the tunnel you made, Stevie Rae. I have to tell you—I think it's astonishing." Damien said, relieved about not talking about Raven Mockers.

"Thanks, Damien! It was seriously cool when I figured out I could actually do it." Stevie Rae took a few steps past Zoey and into the mouth of the tunnel, where she was instantly surrounded by the total darkness that stretched behind her like the insides of a huge ebony snake.

She raised her arms so that her palms pressed against the dirt walls of the tunnel.

Suddenly she reminded Zoey of a scene from _Samson and Delilah, _an old movie she'd watched with Damien a month or so ago.

The image that flashed through my memory was when Delilah had led the blind Samson to stand between massive pillars that held up the stadium filled with awful people taunting him. He'd gotten his magical strength back and ended up pushing the pillars apart and destroying himself and . . .

"Isn't that right, Zoey?"

"Huh?" Zoey blinked, disturbed by the sad, destructive scene she'd been reliving in my mind.

"I said, Mary didn't move the earth for me when I made the tunnel; the power Nyx gave me did. Jeesh, you're not payin' attention to me at all," Stevie Rae said. She'd taken her hands from the side of the tunnel and was giving me her _what's going on inside_ _your head now? _look.

"Sorry, what were you saying about Nyx?"

"Just that I really don't think Nyx and the dang Virgin Mary have anything to do with each other; Jesus' mama definitely didn't help me move the earth to make this tunnel."

She shrugged a shoulder. "I don't want to hurt your feelings or nothin' like that, Sister, but that's what I think."

"You're entitled to your own opinion, Stevie Rae," said the nun, looking as calm as usual. "But you should know that saying you don't believe in something doesn't make it any less possible that it exists."

"Well, I've been giving this some thought, and personally I don't find it such an odd hypothesis," Damien said. "You should remember that in your _Fledgling Handbook 101_, Mary is illustrated as one of the many faces of Nyx."

"Huh," Zoey said. "Really?"

Damien gave her his best stern look that clearly said _you really should be a better student _before he nodded, and in his best schoolteacher voice continued, "Yes. It is well documented that during the influx of Christianity into Europe, shrines to Gaea, as well as Nyx, were converted to shrines for Mary long before people converted to the new . . ."

Damien's droning on and on was a soothing background as Zoey peered into the tunnel. The darkness was deep and thick. Just inches behind Stevie Rae, Zoey could see nothing.

Then, out of nowhere, Zoey fainted as she ventured into the cave.

* * *

><p>The slap Aphrodite gave Zoey burned against her cheek, and she sucked in a big breath<p>

She opened her eyes and the beam of the flashlight caused her to squint and blink. "I remember." Her voice sounded rusty.

"You remember who you are, or should I smack you again?" Aphrodite said.

"No!" she cried the word with so much emotion that Aphrodite automatically moved away from her.

"Fine," she said. "You can thank me later."

Sister Mary Angela took her place, bending over her and smoothing her hair back from her face, which was sweaty and cold.

"Zoey, are you with us?"

"Yes," she said in a broken voice.

"Zoey, what is it? What caused you to hyperventilate?" the nun asked.

"You're not feeling sick, are you?" Erin's voice was a little tremble-y.

"Not getting the urge to cough up a lung or anything?" Shaunee asked, looking as upset as her twin sounded.

Stevie Rae shoved the Twins aside so she could get close to her. "Talk to me, Z. Are you really okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm not dying or anything like that."

She understood that her friends were scared that her body had begun rejecting the Change.

Zoey held out her hand out to Stevie Rae. "Here, help me up. I'm better now."

Stevie Rae pulled her up, careful to keep her hand under her elbow while Zoey swayed slightly before finding her balance.

"What happened to you, Z?" Damien asked as he studied her.

"Just tell us, child. The truth spoken is always less frightening than supposition," said Sister Mary Angela.

"The tunnel scared me!"

"Scared you? Like, there's something in there?" Damien had said and was peering nervously into the dark opening.

The Twins took a couple steps farther into the root cellar and away from the tunnel.

"No, there's nothing in there." She hesitated. "At least I don't think so. Anyway, that's not what scared me."

"You expect us to believe you fainted because you were scared of the dark?" Aphrodite said.

They all stared at me.

"Hey, y'all. Maybe there's stuff Zoey just doesn't wanna talk about," said Stevie Rae.

I looked at my best friend and realized if I didn't say something about what had just happened to me

"You're right," Zoey told Stevie Rae. "I don't want to talk about it, but you guys deserve to hear the truth."

"That tunnel freaked me out so much because my soul recognized it." Zoey cleared her throat and went on, "I remembered being trapped in the earth with Kalona."

"You mean because there really is some of A-ya inside of you?" Damien asked softly.

"I'm me, but I'm also, somehow, still a part of her."

"Interesting . . ." Damien breathed a long sigh.

"Well, what the hell does that mean for you and Kalona today?" Aphrodite asked.

"I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!" Zoey burst out.

"I don't have the damn answers. All I have is the memory and zero time to process it. How about

you guys back off just a little and let me get the mess inside my head straight?"

She turned to Stevie Rae. "Explain to me exactly how you made the tunnel."

Zoey could tell by the question mark in her blue eyes that she was worried about her tone.

"Well, it wasn't really that big of a thing." Stevie Rae looked nervous and uncomfortable, like she was trying too hard to be nonchalant because she was feeling the exact opposite.

"Hey, are you sure you're okay? Shouldn't we go up out of here and maybe get you a brown pop or somethin'? I mean, if this place gives you flashbacks, talkin' someplace else sounds like a good

idea."

"I'm okay. Right now I just want to hear about the tell me how you did this."

"'Kay, well, you know the Prohibition tunnels are practically everywhere under the downtown buildings, right?"

"Right."

"Also, remember that I told you I'd been doin' some reconnoitering to see where they all went?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Okay, so, I found that kinda half-covered tunnel entrance that Ant told y'all about the other day—the one that branches off away from the others that go under the Philtower Building and stuff"

Zoey nodded

"Well, it was filled in with dirt, but when I felt around the little hole left in the middle of it, I knocked a bunch of dirt away, stuck my arm through, and felt a bunch of cool air. That made me think there was probably more tunnel on the other side of it. So I pushed, with my mind and my hands and my

element. And earth responded."

"Responded? Like it shook or something?" She asked.

"More like it moved. Like I wanted it to. In my head." She paused. "It's kinda hard to explain. But what happened was the dirt that had sealed the tunnel ended up crumbling and I stepped through the new bigger opening into a really, _really _old tunnel."

"And this old tunnel was made of dirt, not lined with concrete, like the tunnels under the depot and downtown, right?" Damien said.

Stevie Rae smiled and nodded, her blond hair bouncing around her shoulders. "Yeah! And instead of heading downtown it pointed to midtown."

"It came all the way here?"

"Nope. What happened was that once I found the dirt tunnel and kinda opened it up, I went explorin' in it. Okay, it starts as one of the off shoots of the Philtower Building. I thought it was weird and kinda cool that it headed away from downtown."

"How could you tell that?" Damien interrupted her. "How could you even guess where you were heading?"

"Easy-peasy for me! I can always find north, you know, the direction of my earth element. Once I find it—I can find anything."

"Hmm," he said.

"Go on," Zoey said. "Then what?"

"Then it ran out. Just, well, stopped. Before you slipped me the note about meeting you here at the sisters' place, that's where I stopped, too. I mean, sure, I was plannin' to go back and check it out some more later, but it really wasn't a high priority to me. When you told me I might have to move the kids here, I couldn't quit thinkin' about the dirt tunnel. I remembered that it had been

headed in this direction before it ran out. So I went back there. I thought about where I wanted to go and how I wished the tunnel would go there. Then I pushed again, like I'd done to get the opening bigger, only more so. Then, well, presto-chango, the earth did what I told it to do, and here we are! Ta-da!" She finished with a big smile and a flourish.

Into the silence that surrounded Stevie Rae's explanation, Sister Mary Angela's voice sounded utterly normal and reasonable. "Remarkable, isn't it? Stevie Rae, you and I may disagree upon the source of your gift, but I am nonetheless in awe of its vastness."

"Thank you, Sister! I think you're pretty awesome, too, 'specially for a nun."

"How did you see down there?" Zoey asked

"Well, I really don't have a problem seeing in the dark, but the other kids aren't as good at it as I am, so I brought some lanterns from the depot tunnels." Stevie Rae pointed to a few oil lanterns that I hadn't noticed before in the dark corners of the root cellar.

"Still, it was a long way," Shaunee was saying.

"Seriously. It must have been dark and creepy," Erin said.

"Nah, the earth really isn't creepy to me, or to the red fledglings." She shrugged. "Like I said, it was no big deal. Actually, it was super-easy."

"And you managed to get all the red fledglings here safely?" Damien said.

"Yep!"

"Which all?" Zoey asked, and both Alena and Stevie Rae knew where she was going but Alena wasn't about to say anything, she never did.

"What do ya mean, which all? That doesn't make any sense, Z," she said. "I brought all the red fledgings y'all met before, plus Erik and Heath. Who else are ya talkin' about?" Her words sounded normal, but she ended with a weird, nervous laugh and wouldn't meet her eyes.

Stevie Rae was _still _lying to her.

"I think maybe Zoey is feeling confused because she's exhausted, as she should be after the experience she's had tonight." Sister Mary Angela's warm hand on my shoulder felt as reassuring as her voice. "We're all tired," she added.

Her smile took in Stevie Rae, the Twins, Aphrodite, Alena, and Damien. "Dawn is not long off. Let's get you settled with the rest of your friends. Sleep. Everything will seem clearer when you're well rested."


	3. Stevie Rae 3

"I'm going to find Darius and my room." Aphrodite said as she waggled her brows and started to twitch out of the basement.

"Aphrodite," Sister Mary Angela called. When Aphrodite paused and looked back at her, the nun continued.

"I imagine Darius is still with Stark. Saying good night to him would be just fine, but you'll find your room on the fourth floor—you'll be sharing it with Zoey and not with the warrior."

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Why does that not surprise me?" And, muttering to herself, she continued to twitch away.

"Sorry, Z," Stevie Rae said after she rolled her eyes at Aphrodite's back. "I'd be your roomie again, but I think I should stay down here. Being underground really feels better to me after the sun rises, plus I need to stick close to the red fledglings."

"That's okay,"

"Is everyone else still upstairs?" Damien asked.

"Yeah, everyone else is upstairs in the cafeteria or already in bed. Hey, Earth to Zo! Check it out. The nuns have a massively big selection of Doritos, and I even found some brown pop for you—full of caffeine _and _sugar," said Heath as he jumped down the last three steps into the basement.

"Thanks, Heath."

"Z, if you're really okay I'd like to find Jack and be sure Duchess is okay, then I'm going to sleep for a little bit of forever," Damien said.

"No problem,"

"Where's Erik?" Stevie Rae asked Heath.

"He's still outside being all king of the castle."

"Did you find anything after I left?" Alena's voice suddenly got so sharp that several of the red fledglings glanced over from watching Maria and the Von Trapps sing "My Favorite Things."

"Nah, he's just a butt and rechecking what Dallas and I already checked."

Dallas looked up from his place in front of the TV at the sound of his name. "Everything's cool out there, girls."

Stevie Rae made a _come here _motion at Dallas, and he hurried to join Alena and Stevie Rae. She lowered her voice and said, "Fill me in."

"I already told you outside before you came down here," Dallas said, his eyes wandering back to the TV screen and cream colored ponies . . . crisp apple strudel . . .

Stevie Rae gave his arm a smack. "Would you pay attention? I'm not outside anymore. Now I'm in here. So fill me in _again_."

Dallas sighed, turned his full attention to her and gave her a cute, indulgent smile. "Okay, okay. But only 'cause you asked so nice."

Stevie Rae frowned at him and he continued. "Erik, Johnny B, Heath here," he paused and nodded at Heath, "and me—we searched like you told us to, which was no fun 'cause the ice is really slick and it's super-cold out there." He paused.

Both Stevie Rae and Alena stared silently at him until he continued.

"Anyway, _like you already know, _we were doing that while you were searching down by Twenty-first Street. After a while we all met back at the grotto. That's when we told you we found those three bodies at the Lewis and Twenty-first Street corner. You told us to take care of them. Then you left. So we did what you said, and then me and Heath and Johnny B came inside to dry off, eat, and watch TV. I guess Erik's still out there looking around."

"Why?" Alena's voice was sharp.

Dallas shrugged, "Could be like Heath said. The guy's a butt."

"Bodies?" said Sister Mary Angela.

Dallas nodded. "Yeah, we found three dead Raven Mockers. Darius shot them out of the sky 'cause they had bullet holes in them."

Sister Mary Angela lowered her voice. "And what did you do with the dead creatures?"

"Put them in the Dumpsters behind the abbey like Stevie Rae said. It's freezin' out there. They'll keep. And no garbage trucks are gonna be picking up anytime soon, what with the ice and everything. We thought they could stay there till y'all decided what to do with 'em."

"Oh! Oh, my!" The nun's face had gone pale.

"You put them in the Dumpsters?" Alena practically yelled.

"Sssh!" Kramisha told her while the TV watchers gave us the stank eye.

Sister Mary Angela motioned for us to follow her, and the five of us went quickly out of the basement, up the stairwell, and into the abbey hall.

"Dallas, I can'_t _believe you put them in the Dumpsters!" Alena yelled as Stevie Rae stared at her strangely.

"What'd you expect us to do with them, dig a grave and say Mass?" Dallas said, then he glanced at Sister Mary Angela. "Sorry, I didn't mean to blaspheme, Sister. My folks are Catholic."

"You meant no offense, I'm sure, son," said the nun, sounding a little shaky. "Bodies . . . I—I hadn't thought about the bodies."

"Don't worry about it, Sister." Heath patted her arm awkwardly. "You don't have to mess with them. I get what you're feeling. This whole thing: the winged guy, Neferet, the Raven Mockers, well, is all hard to—"

"They can't stay in the Dumpsters," Alena spoke over Heath as if she hadn't even heard him. "It's not right."

"Why not?" Stevie Rae asked calmly. She'd been quiet until then because she'd been studying Alena, watching closely as she became more and more upset.

Alena suddenly didn't seem to have any problem meeting Stevie Rae's gaze. "Because it's not right, that's why," she repeated.

"They were monsters that were part immortal who would have tried their best to kill us all in a split second if Kalona had given them the word," Stevie Rae said.

"Part immortal and part what?" Alena asked her.

She frowned at her, but Heath answered before Stevie Rae could. "Part bird?"

"No." Alena didn't even look at him. She kept staring at Stevie Rae. "Not part bird, that's the immortal part. In their blood they're part immortal and part human. _Human, _Stevie Rae. I feel sorry for the human part, and think it deserves more than being stuck in the trash."

There was something about the look in her eye—about the sound of her voice—that really bothered Stevie Rae

Stevie Rae answered her with the first thing that came into her mind. "It takes more than an accident of blood to make me feel sorry for someone."

Alena's eyes flashed and her body jerked, almost like she'd slapped her. "I guess that's one difference between you and me, Stevie Rae."

All of a sudden Stevie Rae realized why Alena was able to feel bad for the Raven Mockers. In a weird way, she must be seeing herself in them.

She'd died and then, due to what she supposed she could call an "accident" she'd resurrected _without _most of her humanity, just like herself and the rest of the fledglings.

Then, due to another "accident," both she and Stevie Rae had gotten their humanity back. Looking at it that way, she guessed she felt sorry for them because she knew what it was like to be part monster, part human.

"Hey," Stevie Rae said softly, wishing she and Alena were back at the House of Night and could be friends again. "There's a big difference between an accident causing something to be born messed up, and something terrible that happens _after _someone's born. On one hand you're made the way you are—on the other, something tried to change you into someone you're not."

"Huh?" Heath said.

"I believe what Stevie Rae is trying to say is that she understands why Alena might empathize with the dead Raven Mockers, even when she really has nothing in common with them," said Sister Mary Angela. "And Stevie Rae would be right. Those creatures are dark beings, and even though I, too, am disconcerted by death, I understand that they needed to die."

Alena's gaze left Stevie Rae's "You're both wrong. That's not what I'm thinking at all, but I'm not gonna talk about it anymore." She started down the hall, walking quickly away from them.

"Alena?" Stevie Rae called after her.

She didn't even look back at her. "I'm gonna find Erik, make sure everything's really okay out there, and then send him inside. I'll talk to you later." She turned and disappeared through a door I assumed led to the outside, slamming it behind her

"That's not usually how she acts," Stevie Rae said.

"I'll pray for her," Sister Mary Angela whispered.

"Don't worry," Heath said. "She'll be back inside pretty soon. The sun's getting ready to come up."

Stevie Rae swiped her hand across her face.

What she should've done was follow Alena outside, corner her, and make her tell her exactly

what was going on but she also knew that Alena liked to be alone a lot and maybe just wanted time to be by herself.

With everything going on, who wouldn't be stressed and on the verge of collapsing, Stevie Rae knew she would.


	4. Alena Pov

Alena slammed the abbey door and retreated into the icy night. She wasn't really pissed at Stevie Rae, or at the super-nice, if slightly delusional, nun. Actually, she wasn't pissed at anyone but herself.

"Damn it! I hate that I'm messing everything up!" she yelled at herself. She hadn't meant to screw things up, but it seemed like she was digging through a pile of shit that just kept getting deeper and deeper no matter how fast she shoveled.

Stevie Rae wasn't a moron. She knew something was wrong. That was obvious, but how could Alena even start to tell her? There was just so much to explain.

_He _was just so much to explain. And she'd never meant for any of it to happen.

Especially not the Raven Mocker part.

Damn it! Before she'd discovered him almost dead, she wouldn't have even thought it was possible. Had someone told her about him before, she would have laughed and said, "Nope, that ain't gonna happen to me!"

But it was possible because it had happened. _He _had happened.

As Alena prowled around the silent abbey grounds looking for Erik, she tried to figure out just how the hell she'd gotten herself into such an awful mess.

Why had she saved him? Why hadn't she just hollered for Stevie Rae and the rest of them and had them finish it?

That had even been what he'd said he wanted before he passed out.

But he'd spoken. He'd sounded so human. And she hadn't been able to kill him.

"Erik!" Where the heck was he? "Erik, come here!"

Alena squinted to the east and swore she could see the darkness there beginning to turn the ripe plum color of predawn.

"Erik! Time to go in!" She yelled for the third time. She stopped and peered around the silent abbey grounds.

Her gaze slid over to the green house that had been turned into a temporary stable for the horses Zoey and the rest of the gang had ridden in their escape from the House of Night.

But it wasn't so much the green house that drew her gaze. It was the innocent looking equipment shed next to it that she couldn't quit staring at.

The shed appeared totally normal—just an add-on building with no windows. The door hadn't even been locked. She should know. She'd been inside it not too long ago.

"Hey, what's wrong? Did you see something over there?"

"Oh, shit!" Alena jumped and spun around, heart hammering so hard in her chest she almost couldn't breathe.

"Erik! You scared the petals right off of me!"

"Sorry, Alena, but _you _were calling _me._"

Alena brushed her bangs back behind her ear and tried to ignore the fact that her hand was shaking.

She was just seriously no good at this sneaking-around-and-hiding-things-from-your-friends stuff.

But she lifted her chin and forced her nerves to settle down.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah, I was calling you because you're supposed to be inside with everyone else. What the heck are ya still doing out here, anyway? You're worrying Zoey?"

"Zoey was looking for me?"

Alena then began to think about Stevie Rae told her about Erik. She had told Alena he was annoying. That he acted like Mr. Perfect Boyfriend part of the time, and then would suddenly change up and be an arrogant jerk. She didn't know why Stevie Rae told her this.

"Alena! Pay attention. Did you say Zoey was looking for me?"

"You're supposed to be inside. Heath and Dallas and the rest of the kids are. Zoey knows that. She wanted to know where you were and why you're not where you're supposed to be."

"If she was that worried she could have come out here herself."

"I didn't say she was worried!" Alena snapped, tired of his self-absorption that he was showing right now. "And Zoey has way too much on her plate to be out here babysitting' you."

"I don't need a damn babysitter."

"Really? Then why did I have to come get you?"

"I don't know, why did you? I was on my way inside. I just wanted to do one more sweep of the perimeter. I thought it'd be smart to go over what Heath was supposed to check. You know humans can't see shit at night."

Alena sighed. "I'll take one more check around the grounds before the sun comes up," Alena said.

"_If _the sun comes up," Erik said, squinting up at the sky.

She followed his gaze and realized it was raining again, only the temperature was still on that line between freeze and non-freeze, so the sky was, once again, spitting ice.

"This crappy weather is not what we need," Alena muttered.

"Well, at least it'll help cover the blood from those Raven Mockers," Erik said.

Her gaze went quickly to Erik's face. Shit! She hadn't even thought about the blood! Had they tracked blood into the shed? Talk about leaving a glaring path that screamed _Here I am! _She realized Erik was expecting her to say something.

"Yeah, um, you're right. Maybe I'll try to kick around some ice and broken branches and stuff to cover up the blood from those three birds," she said with forced nonchalance.

"Probably a good idea in case some humans actually go outside during the day. Want some help?"

"No," she answered too quickly, and then made herself shrug. "it'll just take me a second. Not a big deal."

"Well, okay then." Erik started to walk away, but hesitated. "Hey, you might want to give some extra attention to the blood marks at the edge of the tree line by the condos next door and the road. It was pretty nasty down there."

"Okay, yeah, I know the place." She sure did.

"Oh, and, where did you say Zoey was?"

"Uh, Erik, I don't believe I said."

Erik frowned, waited, and when Alena just continued to look at him, finally asked, "Well? Where is she?"

"Last time I saw her she was talking to Heath and Sister Mary Angela in the hall outside the basement. But my guess is by now she's checked on Stark and is in bed. She looked tired as hell."

"Stark . . ." Erik muttered something unintelligible after the kid's name, and turned back toward the abbey.

Sighing, Alena's gaze moved reluctantly down to the row of big trash bins half camouflaged by their placement next to the nuns' carport. She averted her eyes, not wanting to think about the terrible crumpled bodies that had been dumped there.

"With the trash." She said the words slowly, as if they each held their own weight. Alena admitted to herself that Stevie Rae and Sister Mary Angela might have been partially right in their mini counseling session with her, but that didn't make what they'd said any less annoying.

Okay, sure, she'd overreacted, but the guys putting the bodies of the Raven Mockers in the trash had really jolted her, and not just because of _him. _

Her eyes slid over to the shed that sat silently beside the green house.

What they had done with the bodies of the Raven Mockers had bothered her because she didn't believe in life being devalued— any kind of life. It was a dangerous thing to think you were godlike and could decide who was worthy of life and who wasn't.

She knew that better than anyone.

Just remembering how it had been when she'd been caught up in that anger and violence made her feel sick. She'd left those dark times behind her—she'd made a choice for good and light and the Goddess, and that was the path she was staying on. So when anyone decided a life meant nothing, _any _life, it upset her.

Or at least that was what Alena told herself as she started walking across the abbey grounds, heading totally _away _from the garden shed.

_Keep it together . . . keep it together . . . _she kept repeating over and over as she detoured quickly down the ditch and into the tree line, heading directly for the bloodstains she remembered all too well.

She found a thick, broken branch that still had a bunch of twigs attached to it, and lifted it easily, glad for the extra strength that came with her new status as fully Changed red vampyre. Using the branch like a broom, she brushed over the blood, pausing every so often to toss another broken branch, or

once, a whole side of a collapsed holly bush, onto the telltale crimson pools.

Following her earlier path, she turned to her left, away from the street and back onto the nuns' lawn, staying inside the fence.

She hadn't gone far when, just like before, Stevie Rae found a big splotch of blood.

Only this time there wasn't a body lying on top of it.

Distracting herself by humming Selena Gomez "Who says," she hurriedly brushed over the bloodstains and then followed the trail of drops she knew she'd find, kicking ice and branches over the evidence, as the blood path led her directly to the little garden shed.

She stared hard at the door, sighed, and then turned away, walking around the shed to the green house.

The door was unlocked and the handle turned easily. She entered the building and hurried because

she had business to take care of and not much time before dawn.

Even if the sun was going to be shrouded by clouds and ice, it was still never a comfortable thing for a red vampyre to be caught outside, exposed and vulnerable, during the day.

It didn't take Alena long to find what she needed. The nuns obviously liked the old-school way of doing things.

Instead of a system of modern hoses, electric switches, and metallic thingies, the sisters had buckets and dippers, watering pails with long, perforated nozzles made for gently showering baby plants, and lots of tools that were obviously as well used as they were well cared for.

Alena filled a bucket with fresh water from one of the many faucets, grabbed a dipper, a few towels from a clean pile she found on a shelf used to store garden gloves and spare pots, and then, on her way out, she paused near a tray of moss that reminded her of a thick, green carpet.

She stood there chewing her lip indecisively as instinct warred with her conscious mind, until she finally gave in and pulled up a long row of the moss. Then, mumbling to herself about not knowing how she knew what she knew, Alena left the green house and returned to the shed.

At the door she stopped and focused her attention—keyed all of her keen, predator-like ability to sense, smell, see anyone, any_thing _lurking around. Nothing. No one was outside. The sleet and the late hour were keeping everyone tucked safe and warm inside.

She took one more look around, shifted her load so she had a free hand, and then touched the door latch.

_Okay—okay. Just get it over with. Maybe he's dead and you won't have to deal with this great big assed new mistake you made._

Alena clicked the latch down and pushed open the door. Automatically, she wrinkled her nose. It was jolting after the earthy simplicity of the green house, this little building that smelled like gas and oil and musty crap, all mixed with the wrong scent of his blood.

She'd left him at the other end of the shed, behind the riding mower and the shelves that held lawn care stuff like garden shears, fertilizer, and spare sprinkler parts. She peered back there and could vaguely make out a dark shape, but it wasn't moving.

She listened hard and didn't hear anything except the ice spitting against the roof.

Dreading the inevitable moment when she was going to have to face him, Alena forced herself to step into the shed and close the door firmly behind her. She made her way around the mower and shelves to the creature that lay at the far end of the shed.

It didn't look like he'd moved since she'd half dragged, half carried him there a couple of hours ago and literally tossed him into that back corner. He lay crumpled in on himself, curled into an awkward fetal position on his left side.

The bullet that had torn through the upper right side of his chest, had ripped through his wing as it exited his body, utterly decimating it. The huge black wing lay bloody, shattered, and useless along his side.

Alena also thought one of his ankles might be broken, as it was horribly swollen and, even in the darkness of the shed, she could see it looked bruised. Actually, his whole body looked pretty badly battered, which was no big surprise.

He had been shot out of the sky and the big old oaks at the edge of the abbey's property had broken

his fall enough for him not to have been killed immediately, but she really had no way of knowing how badly he was wounded.

For all she knew his insides were as broken as his outsides looked. For all she knew, he was dead. He sure looked dead. She watched his chest and couldn't be 100 percent certain, but she didn't think she saw it rising or falling with his breath.

He was probably dead.

She kept staring at him, unwilling to move closer, and unable to turn and walk away.

Was she batshit crazy? Why hadn't she stopped to think before she'd dragged him in here? She stared at him. He wasn't human.

Alena shuddered. She continued to stand there as if she was frozen by the horror of what she'd done.

What would her friends say if they found out she'd hidden a Raven Mocker? What would Stevie Rae say?

The nun had been right. He shouldn't evoke pity in her. She was going to take the towels and stuff back to the green house, go inside the abbey, find Stevie Rae and tell him that there was a Raven Mocker in the shed.

Then she'd let the high priestess do her job. If he wasn't dead already, Stevie Rae would take care of business.

It would actually be putting the bird guy out of his misery. She let out a long breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in relief at her decision, and his red eyes opened and met hers.

"Finish it . . ." the Raven Mocker's voice was weak and filled with pain, but it was clearly, absolutely, undeniably human.

And that was it. Alena realized the reason she hadn't called Stevie Rae and the rest of them when she'd discovered him.

When he'd spoken before and told her to kill him, he'd sounded like a real guy—one who had been hurt and abandoned and scared.

She hadn't been able to kill him then, and she wasn't able to turn away from him now. His voice made all the difference, because even though he looked like a being that shouldn't be possible, he sounded like a regular guy who was so desperate and in such pain that he expected the very worst to happen to him.

No, that was wrong. He didn't just expect the very worst to happen to him, he wanted it to. What he had gone through was so horrible he couldn't see any way out of it except through his own death.

To Alena, even though what he'd been through was largely of his own making that made him very, very human. She'd been there. She understood such complete hopelessness.


	5. Alena 5

Alena controlled her automatic impulse to step back because guy voice or no guy voice, and the question of his humanity put temporarily aside, the honest truth was he was one big, bird guy whose blood smelled seriously wrong.

And Alena was very much alone with him.

"Look, I know you're hurt but if I was going to kill you, you wouldn't be here."

She made her voice sound normal and instead of backing away from him like she wanted to, she stood her ground and she met those cold red eyes that looked so bizarrely human.

"Why won't you kill me?" The words were little more than an agonized whisper, but the night was so silent that Alena had no trouble hearing him.

She could have pretended she didn't hear what he'd said, or at least didn't understand him, but she was sick of evasions and lies, so she continued to hold his gaze and told him the truth,

"Well, actually, that has a lot more to do with me than you. I guess mostly I'm not real sure why I won't kill you, except for the fact that I tend to do things my own way, and I can definitely say I'm not a big fan of killing."

He stared at her until she wanted to squirm under that strange red gaze. Finally he said, "You should."

Her eyebrows went up. "I should know, I should kill you, or I should do things my own way? You're gonna have to be more specific."

Obviously at the very end of his strength, his eyes had begun to close, but her words had him reopening them.

She could see some kind of emotion changing his expression, but his face was so foreign, so unlike anything or anyone she was used to, that she couldn't read him.

His black beak opened as if he was going to say something. At that moment a shudder rippled through his body.

Instead of speaking, he closed his eyes tightly and moaned. The sound was filled with an agony that was completely human.

Automatically she took a step toward him. His eyes reopened and, even though they were glazed with pain, she could see his scarlet gaze was focused on her.

Alena stopped and spoke slowly and distinctly. "Okay, here's the deal. I brought water and

stuff to bandage you up with, but I'm not really good with coming over there by you unless you give me your word you won't try anything to hurt or kill me."

This time Alena was sure the emotion she saw within the red of those human eyes was surprise.

"I cannot move." His words were halting, and it was an obvious effort for him to speak at all.

"Does that mean I have your word you won't bite me or do anything else?"

"Yesssss."

His voice had gone all guttural and the word ended in a hiss, which Alena didn't find at all reassuring.

Still, she straightened her spine and nodded like he hadn't just sounded like a snake. "Well. Good. Okay, let's see what I can do to make you feel better."

Then, before she could talk some sense into her own dang head, she walked right up to the Raven Mocker.

She plopped the towels and the moss on the ground beside him, and set the water bucket down more carefully. He really was big. She'd forgotten that.

Well, maybe it was more like she'd blocked it from her memory, because "forgetting" his size was pretty hard.

It hadn't been exactly easy to drag/carry him into this shed before Erik or Dallas or Heath or _anyone _had seen her, even though he'd been weirdly light for how heavy he looked.

"Water." The word was almost a croak.

"Oh, yeah, sure!" She jumped and then fumbled with the handle of the dipper. It fell on the floor, and as embarrassed as she was frazzled, she dropped it again—had to pick it up, wipe it on a towel, and then finally dip it into the water.

She moved closer to him. He stirred weakly, obviously trying to raise an arm, but the attempt caused him to moan again and his arm seemed to only be able to hang at his side, as useless as his broken wing.

Not pausing to think about what she was doing, Alena bent, lifted his shoulders gently, tilted his head back, and held the dipper to his beak. He drank thirstily.

When he'd had his fill, she helped him lie back, but not until she'd put one of the towels under his head.

"Okay, I don't have anything to clean you up with except water, but I'll do my best. Oh, and I brought some strips of moss. If I pack your wounds with them, they'll help." S

She didn't bother to explain that she really didn't know how she knew the moss was good for his wounds—it was just one of the snatches of information she'd get from time to time—out of nowhere.

One second she wouldn't have a clue about something. The next she'd be sure of how to, well, plug up a wound, for instance. She wanted to believe it was Nyx but she didn't know for

"Just keep choosing good over evil . . ." she muttered to herself as she started to tear one of the towels into strips.

The Raven Mocker's eyes opened and he looked questioningly at her.

"Oh, just ignore me. I talk to myself. Even when I'm not alone. It's like my own version of therapy."

She paused and met his gaze. "This is gonna hurt. I mean, I'll try to be careful and all, but you're pretty messed up."

"Go ahead," he said in that pain-filled whispery voice that sounded too human to be coming from such an inhuman-looking creature.

"Alright, well, here goes." Alena worked as quickly and as gently as possible. The hole in his chest was terrible.

She flushed it with water and picked off as much of the twigs and crap from around it as possible.

His feathers made what she was doing super weird. There was chest and skin under them, but it was just so dang odd! He had _feathers_, and under them she found downy little black puffs that felt soft as cotton candy.

She glanced at his face. He'd laid his head back down on the towel pillow. His eyes were squeezed shut, and he was breathing in short little pants.

"Sorry, I know this hurts," she said. His only response was a grunt which, ironically, made him seem more guy-like.

Seriously—the grunt was well known to be a major guy communication method. "Okay, I think it's ready for the moss."

She spoke more to soothe her own nerves than his. Tearing off a section of the moss, she carefully packed it into the wound. "It doesn't seem as bad now that it's not bleeding so much."

She kept chattering, even though he barely responded to her. "Here, I have you move you a little."

She rolled him further on his stomach so she could get to the rest of the wound. He pressed his face into the towel and stifled another moan.

She spoke quickly, hating that agonized sound. "The hole where it came out of your back is bigger, but it's not as dirty, so I won't have as much cleaning to do back here." It took a larger chunk of moss to cover the exit wound, but she got it done quickly.

Then she shifted her attention to his wings. The wing on his left side was tucked tightly against his back.

It didn't look like it had been injured at all. But his right wing was another story. It was totally messed up—shattered and bloody and hanging lifelessly down his side.

"Well, I guess it's time to admit I'm totally out of my comfort zone. I mean, the bullet wound was nasty, but at least I knew what to do about it—kind of. Your wing is something else. I have no clue what to do to help it."

"Bind it to me. Use the cloth strips." His voice was gravelly. He didn't look at her and his eyes were still tightly closed.

"Are you sure? Maybe I should just leave it alone."

"Less pain—if it's bound," he said haltingly.

"Well, shit. Okay." She got to work tearing another towel into long strips, and then knotting them together.

"All right. I'm gonna arrange your wing on your back kinda in the same position your other wing's in. Is that right?"

He nodded once.

She held her breath and picked up his wing. He jerked and gasped. She dropped it and jumped back.

"Shit! I'm sorry! Crap!"

His eyes slitted and he looked up at her. Between panting gasps he said, "Just. Do. It."

She gritted her teeth, leaned forward and, blocking out his muffled moans of pain, rearranged the shattered wing into a position that vaguely resembled the unwounded wing. Then, with barely a pause for breath, she said, "You're gonna have to hold yourself up a little so I can get this tied around you."

She felt his body tense and then he heaved himself up, leaning mostly on his left arm, so that he was in a tilted-over, halfsitting- up position—and his torso was far enough off the floor of the shed for her to quickly wrap the towel strips around him and secure the wing.

"Okay, got it."

He collapsed. His entire body was trembling.

"I'm wrapping your ankle now. I think it's broken, too."

He nodded once.

She tore more towel strips and then securely wrapped up his surprisingly human-looking ankle, just like she remembered her tennis coach wrapping up one of her teammates' weak ankles back when she was in high school at Henrietta High, home of the Fighting Hens.

_Fighting Hens? _Okay, her hometown's mascot had always been silly, but at that moment it struck her as super-funny, and she had to bite her lip to keep a hysterical giggle from bubbling out of it.

Thankfully she got herself under control in just a couple breaths, and managed to ask him, "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

He shook his head in a short, jerky motion.

"Okay, then I'm gonna stop bothering you, 'cause I think I got the worst of it tended." When he nodded once in agreement, she sat on the floor beside him, wiping her shaking hands on one of the leftover towels.

Then she just sat there, looking at him and wondering what the heck she was going to do next. "I'll tell you one thing," she said aloud, "I hope I never have to tie up another broken wing in my whole life again"

His eyes opened, but he didn't speak.

"Well, it was totally horrible. That wing hurts worse than a regular broken arm or leg, doesn't it?"

She was talking because she was nervous, and she didn't expect him to answer, so she was surprised when he said, "It does."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," she continued, as if they were two normal people having an ordinary conversation.

His voice was still weak, but it seemed easier for him to speak and she guessed immobilizing his wing had really helped his pain level.

"I need more water," he said.

"Oh, sure." She grabbed the dipper, glad her hands had stopped shaking. This time he was able to hold himself up and tip back his own head. She only had to pour the water into his mouth, or beak, or whatever the correct word for it was.

Since she was already up, she decided she might as well gather up the bloody pieces of towel, thinking that she should get them away from the shed.

The red fledglings' sense of smell wasn't as good as hers, but it also wasn't as undeveloped as regular fledglings. She didn't want to chance any of them having a reason to sniff around there. A quick search of the shed and she discovered extra-big lawn and garden trash bags, into which she stuffed the rags.

There were three towels she hadn't used, and without really giving it much thought, she unfolded them and spread them out, covering as much of the Raven Mocker as was possible.

"Are you the Red One?"

His voice made her jump. His eyes had been closed and he'd been so quiet while she was cleaning up that she had assumed he was asleep, or maybe passed out. Now those human eyes were open again and trained on her.

"I don't know how to answer that. I am a red vampyre, if that's what you mean." She thought briefly about Stevie Rae and her completed red tattoos, which made her the first red vampyre, and wondered where he was going to fit in their world, but no way was she going to mention him to the Raven Mocker.

"You are the Red One."

"Well, okay, I guess I am."

"My father said the Red One was powerful."

She wasn't powerful, Stevie Rae was, on the other hand, extremely powerful.

"No, I'm not; I think you mean Stevie Rae. She really's powerful ," Alena said with no hesitation.

Then she held his gaze and continued, "Your father? You mean Kalona?"

"Yes."

"He's gone, you know."

"I know." He looked away from her then. "I should be with him."

"No offense, but from what I know of your daddy, I think it's best that you're here and he's not. He isn't exactly a nice guy. Not to mention Neferet has gone completely batshit crazy and…"

"You talk a lot," he said and then grimaced painfully.

"Yeah, it's a habit." _A nervous habit_, but she didn't add that. "Look, you need to rest. I'm gonna go. Plus, the sun started to come up five minutes ago, and that means I need to be inside. The only reason I can walk around at all out there is because the sky's so full of clouds."

She tied the trash bag closed and scooted the water bucket and dipper within his reach—_if _he was able to do any reaching. "So, bye. I'll, um, see you later." She started to hurry away, but his voice stopped her.

"What will you do with me?"

"I haven't figured that part out yet." She sighed and fidgeted, picking nervously at her fingernails.

"Look, I think you're safe here for at least one day. The storm isn't letting up and the nuns aren't going to be messing around out here. All of the fledglings will probably stay inside until sunset. By that time I should know what to do with you."

"I still do not understand why you don't tell the others about me."

"Yeah. Well, that makes two of us. Try to rest. I'll be back."

Her hand was on the door latch when he spoke again. "My name is Rephaim."

Alena smiled over her shoulder at him. "Hi. I'm Alena, Alena Lucia. Nice to meet you, Rephaim."

Rephaim watched the girl leave the building. He counted one hundred breaths after the door clicked closed, and then he began shifting his body until he'd forced himself into a sitting position.

Now that he was fully conscious he wanted to take inventory of his injuries.

His ankle was not broken. It pained him, but he could move it. His ribs were bruised but, again, he didn't think any of them were broken.

The bullet wound in his chest was serious, but Alena had cleaned it and packed it with moss. If it didn't fester and putrefy, he would heal. He could move his right arm, though it was difficult, and it felt unnaturally stiff as well as weak.

Finally, he shifted his attention to his wing. Rephaim closed his eyes and probed with his mind, following sinew and ligaments, muscle and bone, through his back and down the length of his shattered pinion.

He gasped, almost unable to breathe, as he truly comprehended the full extent of the damage the bullet, and then the terrible, ripping fall had done.

He would never fly again.

The reality of the thought was so horrible that his mind skittered away from it. He would think of the Alena instead try to remember her sun kissed skin that seemed to give a certain glow when he saw her.

Maybe he would find some clue in his memory that would explain her unusual behavior. Why had she not killed him? Perhaps she still would—or at least perhaps she would betray his presence to her

friends.

If she did, so be it. Life as he had known it was over for him. He would welcome the chance to die battling anyone who tried to keep him prisoner.

But it hadn't seemed she'd been imprisoning him. He thought hard, forcing his mind to work through pain and exhaustion and despair.

_Alena Lucia._ That had been the name she'd given him. What was her motive in saving him if not to imprison and use him?

Torture. It made sense that she had kept him alive so that she and her allies could force him to tell her all he knew about Father.

What other reason could she have for not killing him? He would have done the same had he been lucky enough to have been in her place.

_They will discover that the son of an immortal will not be easily broken, _he thought.

Stressed beyond the reserves of even his great strength, Rephaim collapsed. He tried to position himself so that he could attain some relief from the agony that wracked his body with every beat of his heart, but it was impossible.

Only time could relieve his physical pain. Nothing would relieve the soul-deep pain of never being able to fly again—of never being whole.

_She should have killed me_, he thought. _Perhaps I can goad her into it if she returns alone. And if she comes back with her allies and attempts to torture my father's secrets from me, I will not be the only one to shriek in pain._

_Father? Where are you? Why did you desert me?_

That was the thought foremost in his mind when unconsciousness finally claimed Rephaim again and, at last, he slept.


	6. Alena 6

Alena usually didn't have problems sleeping. Okay, it was a terrible cliché, but during the daytime she slept like she was, well, dead. But not that day. That day she hadn't been able to shut off her mind—or, maybe it was more truthful to say she hadn't been

able to shut off her _guilty _mind.

What was she going to do about Rephaim?

She should tell Stevie Rae—that's what she should do. Absolutely no doubt about it.

"Sure, and then she would high tail it out of there like a cat in a room filled with barking dogs," she muttered to herself, and continued to pace back and forth in front of the entrance to the root cellar's tunnel.

Alena was alone, but she kept throwing furtive glances around her like she expected to be snuck up on.

And so what if someone came down here looking for her? She wasn't doing anything wrong! She just couldn't sleep, that's all.

At least she wished that was all.

She stopped pacing and stared into the calming darkness of the tunnel that Stevie Rae cut through the raw earth not long before.

_What the hell was she going to do about Rephaim?_

She couldn't tell Stevie Rae about him. She wouldn't understand. No one would. Heck, even she didn't even really understand herself!

She just knew that she couldn't turn him in—couldn't betray him to everyone else. But when she wasn't around him, when Alena couldn't hear his voice and see the too-human pain in his eyes, she was mostly on the verge of panic and worried that hiding the Raven Mocker only proved that she was losing every bit of her good sense.

_He's your enemy! _The thought kept circling around in her mind, flapping and spiraling out of control like an injured bird.

"No, right now he's not my enemy. Right now he's just hurt." She spoke into the tunnel.

Her eyes widened as a thought struck her. It was the fact that he was hurt that had caused this mess! If he'd been whole and attacking her, or any of the others, she wouldn't have hesitated to protect herself or anyone else.

_So, what if I just get him someplace he can heal? _Yes! That was the answer! She didn't have to protect him.

She just didn't want to hand him over to be slaughtered. If she got him to safety, someplace where he wouldn't be bothered, Rephaim could get well and then he could choose his own future.

She had! Maybe he would choose to join the good guys against Kalona and Neferet.

Maybe he wouldn't. Whichever, it wouldn't be her concern.

But where could he go?

And then, staring into the tunnel, she realized the perfect answer. It would mean that she'd have to admit some of her secrets, and in doing so she wondered if Stevie Rae could possibly understand why Alena had kept things from her.

_She has to understand._ _She's had to make some pretty unpopular choices, too. _And anyway, Alena had the sneaking suspicion Stevie Rae wouldn't be all that surprised by what she had to tell her; she'd probably been on to her for a while now.

So she'd tell Stevie Rae about the stuff, which would, at the very least, ensure that where she sent Rephaim wouldn't turn into fledgling Grand Central anytime soon.

He wouldn't exactly be all alone and totally safe, but he would be out of her hair and no longer her responsibility—or her liability.

Feeling excited and more than a little giddy that she'd figured out a solution to her massively terrible problem, she centered herself and checked her ever-accurate internal clock. She had just over an hour until sunset.

On a normal day she could never get away with what she was planning, but today she could feel the weakness of the sun as it tried, but failed, to shine through the thick layer of gray clouds, heavy with the ice that seemed to have settled permanently over Tulsa.

She was pretty sure she wouldn't burn up if she stepped outside. She was also pretty sure that there wouldn't be any nosy nuns poking around with ice still pelting down and everything outside the abbey being frozen and slick. Same went for the regular fledglings.

They were all still tucked in their cots in the basement.

She picked at her fingernails nervously. It was during the big "what are we going to do now?" meeting that she'd have to clue Stevie Rae, and everyone else, in to her secrets. Man, she was so not looking forward to that meeting.

"So it's now or never. Time to grown some ovaries," Alena whispered to herself.

Not giving herself a chance to chicken out, she went quickly and quietly up the stairs from the root cellar and into the basement proper of the abbey.

Sure enough, all the red fledglings were still crashed and totally out. Montoya distinct snoring drifted through the dark room, almost making her smile.

She went to her empty cot and pulled the blanket off it. Then retraced her steps down to the cellar and moved with preternatural confidence in the unrelieved darkness to the mouth of the tunnel.

With no hesitation she stepped into it, loving the scent and the feel of being surrounded by the earth.

Even though she knew what she was about to do might become the biggest mistake in her life, the earth was still able to touch her and calm her just like it had always done ever since she was born, soothing her frazzled nerves like the familiar embrace of a parent.

Her mother had always told her that she should just move into the forest because Alena spent so much time around plants and trees.

She had one thing in common with Stevie Rae, they both liked the earth, and the only difference was that Stevie Rae had an affinity for the earth while Alena had an affinity for creating shields with her mind.

Alena followed the tunnel a short way to the first gentle curve. There she stopped and put the blanket down. She took three deep breaths, centering herself.

When she spoke, her voice was little above a whisper, but it carried such power with it that the air around her literally shivered likes heat waves off a blacktop road in the summer.

"Nyx, I know I have been keeping huge secrets from everyone but I am really confused on what to do but I ask you if you could lend me the power and tranquility of the earth. I know I don't have an affinity for Earth like my high priestess, but since I can't control the earth like her, could you please do it for me being as you are my goddess, Thank you"

She felt the familiar feeling that Nyx was listening and felt a small caress on her cheek that could've been mistaken for a breeze of the wind.

"Earth, with Nyx's help, temporarily you are mine. I call you to me." The tunnel around her was instantly filled with the scents of a hayfield, and the sound of wind soughing through trees.

She could feel grass that wasn't there beneath her feet. And that wasn't all. She could feel.

_Now raise your arms and do what you must before my power is relinquished, Daughter._

She knew it was Nyx talking to her, anyone could move the elements if they ask of for Nyx and it was temporary and important.

She raised her arms and pointed her fingers at the low, dirt ceiling of the tunnel. "I need you to open for me. Please."

The ceiling trembled and dirt showered down, slowly at first, and then, with a sound like an old woman sighing, the earth split open above her.

Instinct had her jumping back into the protective shadows of the tunnel, but she'd been right about the sun; it was definitely nowhere to be seen or felt. Was it raining?

No, she decided as she peered up at the dismal sky and a few drops found her face, it

wasn't raining; it was sleeting, and pretty hard at that, which was all the better for what she had to do.

She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and began the short climb up the collapsed side of the tunnel to the world above.

"Thank you, Nyx for controlling the earth. I am in your debt. Thank you" She whispered and felt the caress on her cheek again.

_Do not worry about the debt, it will be revealed with what it is you are doing._

She didn't understand but then again, Nyx way were mysterious so she didn't ponder long on it.

She emerged not far from Mary's Grotto, between it and the trees that lined the western edge of the abbey grounds. It was dark enough that it seemed that the sun had already set, but still she squinted uncomfortably, not liking how vulnerable daylight made her feel, even if that light was so well filtered it was practically nonexistent.

She shook off the unease and got her bearings quickly, sighting the shed where she'd left Rephaim a little way off to her left.

Putting her head down against the stinging pellets of frozen rain, she jogged to the shed. Just like the night before, as she touched the latch she couldn't help but think _Please let him be dead . . . It'd be easier if he was dead . . ._

The shed was warmer than she'd imagined, and it smelled strange. Along with the scents of the lawn mower and other oiled and gassed yard equipment, as well as the various pesticides and fertilizers stored on the shed's shelves, there was something else.

Something that made her skin crawl. She'd just made her way around the lawn-implement obstacle course and was moving slowly to the back of the shed when Alena realized what the scent reminded her of, and that realization made her steps falter and then stop completely.

The shed, perfumed by Rephaim and his blood, smelled like the darkness that had surrounded her after she had un-died and her humanity had been almost totally destroyed.

It reminded her of that black time and those days and nights that had been filled with nothing but anger and need, violence and fear.

"Again you come to me alone," Rephaim said.


	7. Alena 7

Rephaim's words drifted to her out of the darkness. Without seeing the monster he was, his voice had a quality that made him sound hauntingly, heartbreakingly human. That was, after all, what had saved him the day before.

His humanity had reached Alena, and she hadn't been able to kill him.

But today he sounded different, stronger than he had before. That relieved and worried her at the same time.

Then she shook off the worry. She wasn't some helpless kid who went running for the hills at the first sign of danger. She could definitely kick some bird butt.

She straightened her spine and made the decision to help him get away.

"Who did you expect? John Wayne and the cavalry?" Remembering that what Stevie Rae always said when they were surprised she showed up out of nowhere.

She marched forward. The shape that had been a dark blob hunkered in the back of the shed came into focus and she gave him her best no-nonsense look.

"Well, you're not dead and you're sitting up. So I'm guessing you're feeling better."

He cocked his head slightly to the side. "Who is John Wayne and cavalry?"

"_The _cavalry. It just means the good guys coming to the rescue. Stevie Rae told me, I'm afraid her country style is wearing on me. Don't get excited, though. There isn't an army coming for you. All you have is me."

"Don't you consider yourself one of the good guys?"

He surprised her with his ability to have an actual conversation with her, and she thought if she could close her eyes or look away from him, she might almost fool herself into thinking he was just a normal guy.

Of course she knew better. She could never close her eyes around him _or _look away, and he definitely wasn't a normal anything.

"Well, yeah, I'm good, but I'm not exactly an army." She made an obvious show of looking him over. And he did still look like crap—definitely battered and bloodied and broken—but he wasn't lying on his side in a crumpled heap anymore.

He was sitting up, leaning, mostly on his uninjured left side, against the back of the shed. He'd arranged the towels she'd left with him over his body like pieces of a blanket. His eyes were bright and alert and never wavered from her face. "So, are youfeeling better?"

"As you said, I am not dead. Where are the others?"

"I already told you before, the rest of the Raven Mockers left with Kalona and Neferet."

"No, I mean the other sons and daughters of man."

"Oh, you mean my friends. They're sleeping. So we don't have much time. This isn't going to be easy, but I think I figured out how to get you out of here in one piece." She paused, and stopped herself from picking at her fingernails.

"You can walk, can't you?"

"I will do what I need to do."

"What the does that mean? Just give me a simple yes or no. It's kind of important."

"Yessss."

Alena swallowed hard at the sound of his hissed word and decided she'd been wrong about the whole if-she-didn't-look-at him he'd- seem-normal thing. "All right, well, let's get going then."

"Where are you taking me?"

"All I could think of was that I need to get you someplace where you can be safe and heal. You can't stay here. They'll find you for sure. Hey, do you have a problem being underground?"

"I prefer the ssssky to the earth." He sounded bitter, practically biting off the words and adding a special hissing emphasis to "sky."

She put her hands on her hips. "So does that mean you can't go underground?"

"I prefer not to."

"Well, do you _prefer _to stay alive and hidden underground, or up here where you can be found and get killed?"

_Or worse, _she thought but didn't say aloud.

He didn't speak for quite a while and Alena began to wonder if maybe Rephaim didn't really want to live, which was a thought she hadn't considered. She guessed it might make sense, though.

His own folks had left him for dead and the modern world was like a zillion times different than it had been when he'd been alive and in the flesh before—and terrorizing Cherokee villages.

How badly had she messed up by not just letting him die?

"I prefer to live."

By the look on his face, Alena thought that maybe his announcement was as much a surprise to him as it had been to her.

"Okay. Fine. Then I need to get you out of here." She took a step toward him, but stopped.

"Do I need to make you promise to be good again?"

"I am too weak to be a danger to you," he said simply.

"All right. Just don't try anything stupid and we might get through this." She walked over to him and squatted down.

"I better take a look at your bandages. They might need to be changed or tightened before we leave."

She checked him over methodically, all the while talking about what she was doing.

"Well, the moss looks like it's working. I don't see much blood. Your ankle's pretty swollen, but I don't think it's broken. Can't feel any breaks, anyway."

She rewrapped the ankle and tightened his other bandages, leaving the shattered wing for last.

Alena reached behind him and started to straighten the bandages that had come loose and Rephaim, who had been silent and perfectly still during her examination, flinched and groaned in pain.

"Ah, shit! Sorry. I know the wing's bad."

"Wrap more of the cloth around me. Tie it more tightly against my body. I will not be able to walk if you do not completely immobilize it."

Alena nodded. "I'll do what I can." She ripped more lengths from one of the towels and then he leaned forward so that she had access to his back.

She gritted her teeth and worked as quickly and gently as she could, hating the way he trembled and kept stifling moans of pain.

When she'd finished with the wing, she ladled out some water and helped him drink it. After he stopped trembling, she stood and held out her hands to him.

"Okay, let's get on up."

He nodded, and then slowly reached up and clasped her hands. Bracing herself, she pulled, allowing him time to shift his weight and gather himself.

With a painful gasp, he managed to stand, though he put little weight on his hurt ankle and he didn't seem very steady.

Alena kept hold of his hands, giving him a chance to get used to being upright, and while she worried that he might pass out, she thought how weird it was that his hands felt so warm and so human.

She'd always thought of birds as cold and flitty. Actually, she didn't like birds much—never had.

Alena shivered, and Rephaim dropped her hands.

"Are you okay?" she asked to cover up the awkward silence that gathered between them.

With a grunt, he nodded.

She nodded, too. "Hang on. Before you try to walk, let's see what I can find to help you."

Alena looked through the garden stuff, finally settling on a good, sturdy wooden-handled shovel.

She came back to Rephaim, measured it against him, and in one swift motion, snapped the handle from the spade end and handed it to him. "Use this like a cane. It'll help take some of the weight off your bad ankle. You can lean on me for a little while, but once we get in the tunnel you're gonna have to go on by yourself, so you'll need this."

Rephaim took the wooden handle from her. "Your strength is impressive."

Alena just shrugged. "It comes in handy sometimes."

Rephaim took a tentative step forward, using the handle to help carry his weight, and he was actually able to walk, though Alena could see that it caused him a lot of pain.

Still, he hobbled by himself to the door of the shed. There he paused and looked expectantly at her.

"First, I'm gonna wrap this around you. I'm hoping no one sees us, but on the outside chance that someone does, she'll just see me helping someone wrapped in a blanket."

Rephaim nodded, and Alena wrapped the blanket around him, positioning it over his head and tucking it into the side of the bandage across his chest to hold it closed.

"So here's my plan: You know about the tunnels we've been staying in under the depot downtown, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, I added to them some more."

"I don't understand."

"Well, I asked for Nyx's help to move the earth so I could create a tunnel to link it up the depot to the abbey. Stevie Rae has the affinity for Earth. She can control it more or less. Or at least some aspects of it she can control. She recently found out she can make it move. But I didn't want to ask for her help or it would've blown the whole thing"

"It is this type of power that my father spoke of when he talked of the Red One."

Alena definitely didn't want to discuss Rephaim's horrible daddy with him, and she didn't even want to think about why he might have been talking about Stevie Rae and her powers.

"Yeah, well, anyway—Nyx helped me open up part of the tunnel so I could climb out of it and come here. It's not far from this shed. I'm gonna help you get there. Once you're in the tunnel I want you to follow it back to the depot. There's shelter there, and food. Actually, it's pretty nice. You can get well there."

"And why are the rest of your allies not going to find me in those tunnels?"

"First, I'm gonna ask Nyx's help to seal up the one that connects the depot to the abbey. Then I'm gonna tell my friends something that's gonna make sure they stay outta the depot tunnels for a while. And I'm hopin' that it give you enough time for you to get well and get yourself away from here before they figure it out."

"What will you tell them that will keep them from going into the tunnels?"

Alena sighed and wiped her hand across her face.

"I don't know. I may have to tell Stevie Rae to tell everyone the truth. That there're more red fledglings—that they're hiding in the depot tunnels—and that they are dangerous because they haven't made the choice for good over evil. I don't know how since Stevie Rae doesn't want to let Zoey know but I may have to blackmail her even if it means she'll be super pissed at me and risk losing the friendship we have."

Rephaim was silent for several heartbeats. Finally he said, "Neferet was right."

"Neferet! What do you mean?"

"She kept telling my father that she had allies among the red fledglings—that they could be soldiers in her cause. These red fledglings are the ones she was speaking of."

"They must be," Alena murmured miserably. "Stevie Rae didn't want to believe it. She wanted to believe they'd eventually do the right thing—choose humanity over the darkness. They just needed some time to get things straight in their heads, that's all. I think she was

wrong."

"It is these fledglings that will keep your friends from the tunnels?"

"Kinda. Really, it's more me that'll keep them out. I'm gonna buy us time—for you and for them." She met his eyes. "Even if Stevie Rae was wrong." Without saying anything else, she opened the door, went to his side, lifted his arm, wrapped it around her shoulders, and

the two of them stepped out into the icy dusk.

Alena knew Rephaim had to be in terrible pain as they walked haltingly from the shed toward the opening in the ground she'd created to the tunnel.

But the only sound he made was his panting breath. He leaned heavily on her, and Alena was again surprised by his warmth and by the familiar feel of a guy's arm around her shoulder, mixed with the feathered body she was helping to support.

She kept glancing around them, almost holding her breath in fear that someone had slipped outside. The veiled sun was setting.

Alena could feel it leaving the ice-shrouded sky. It was just a matter of time before the fledglings, vamps, and nuns started to stir.

"Come on, you're doing really good. You can make it. We have to hurry." She kept murmuring to him, encouraging Rephaim and trying to calm her own guilty fears.

But no one yelled after them. No one ran up to them, and in much less time than Alena had anticipated, the opening to the tunnel gaped at their feet.

"Climb down backward, with your hands and feet. It's not far. I'll hold on to you for most of the way to help steady you."

Rephaim didn't waste time or energy on words. He nodded, turned, flung the blanket off of him, and then, as Alena held on to his good arm—glad that though he was big and appeared strong and solid, he actually weighed less than she did—with her help he slowly and painfully disappeared down into the earth.

Alena followed him.

In the tunnel, Rephaim leaned against the dirt wall, trying to catch his breath. Stevie Rae wished she could let him rest there, but the crawling sensation in the back of her neck was screaming that the others would be waking up and coming to look for her, _and_ _finding her and her Raven Mocker!_

"You have to keep going. Now. Get out of here. Go that way." She pointed into the darkness in front of them. "It's gonna be really dark. Are you okay in the dark?"

He nodded. "I have long preferred the night."

"Good. Follow this tunnel until you come to the place where it changes from dirt to cement walls. Then turn to your right. It's gonna be confusing 'cause the closer you get to the depot, the more tunnels there are. But stay in the main one. If you keep going, you'll find lanterns and food and rooms with beds and everything."

"And there are dark fledglings."

He didn't phrase it as a question, but Alena answered him. "Yeah, there are. We usually stayed away from the main tunnels and our rooms and such. I don't know what they're doing now since Stevie Rae isn't with them and I honestly don't know what they'll do with you. I don't think they'll want to eat you—you don't smell right. But I can't tell for

sure. They're—" she paused, searching for the right words. "They're different than I am—than the rest of us."

"They are of the darkness. As I said, I am well acquainted with that."

"All right. Well, I'm just gonna believe you'll be okay." Alena paused again, not knowing what to say and finally blurting out,

"So, I guess I'll see you around sometime."

He stared at her and said nothing.

Alena fidgeted. "Rephaim. You have to go. Now. It's not safe here. As soon as you're down the tunnel a ways, I'm gonna ask Nyx to collapse this part so that no one can follow you from here, but you still gotta hurry."

"I do not understand why you would betray your people to save me," he said.

"I'm not betraying anyone; I'm just not killing you!" she yelled, and then lowered her voice and continued. "Why does letting you go have to mean I betrayed my friends? Can't it just mean that I choose life over death? Look, I chose good over evil. How is me lettin' you live any different than that?"

"Did you not consider that choosing to save me was making a choice for what you would call evil?"

Alena looked at him for a long time before she answered.

"Then let that be on your conscience. Your life is what _you _want it to be. Your daddy's gone. The rest of the Raven Mockers are gone, too. My momma used to sing a song to me when I was a kid and I'd messed up and gotten myself hurt. She'd sing that I needed to pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again. And that's what you need to do. I'm just giving you a chance to do it." Alena stuck out her hand.

"So, the next time we meet, I hope we're not enemies."

Rephaim looked from her outstretched hand to her face, and back to her hand. Then slowly, almost reluctantly, he grasped it.

Not in a modern handshake, but in the traditional vampyre greeting of clasping forearms.

"I owe you a life, daughter of red one."

Alena cheeks felt hot. "Just call me Alena."

He bowed his head. "Then it is to Alena that I owe a life."

"Do the right thing with yours and I'll consider myself paid up," she said. "Merry meet, marry part, and merry meet again, Rephaim."

She tried to pull her arm from his grasp, but he didn't let her go. "Are they all like you? All of your allies?" he asked.

She smiled. "No, Stevie Rae is different than the rest of us. She's the first red vamp."

Still gripping her arm he said, "I was the first of my father's children."

Though he held her gaze steadily, she couldn't read his expression. All she saw in the dim light of the tunnel was the human shape of his eyes and their unearthly red glow—the same red glow that haunted her dreams and sometimes overwhelmed her own vision, tainting everything with scarlet and anger and darkness.

She shook her head, and more to herself than to him said, "Being the first can be hard. I was the first born in my family."

He nodded and finally released her arm. Without another word, he turned and hobbled away into the darkness.

Alena counted slowly to one hundred, and then she raised her arms above her. "Nyx, I you're your help again. I need to protect Rephaim again and I need you to collapse the ceiling, fill up this part of the tunnel, close the hole you made for me, plug it up, make it solid again so that nobody can pass here and see Rephaim, Please Nyx."

Instantly, the caress on her cheek came again as before and Nyx responded by filling the tunnel with the scents of a springtime meadow. She breathed in deeply before stepping back as the dirt in front and above her started to move, and then it rained down, shifting and solidifying until there was nothing but a solid wall of earth in front of her.

"Alena, what the hell are you doing?"

Alena whirled around, pressing her hand over her heart. "Montoya! You scared the petals right off of me! You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Hey, don't ever say I aint never give you anything." The Hispanic boy said with a slight accent.

Alena glared at the guy she liked and who happened to like her back. "Sorry. You're so hard to sneak up on I thought you knew I was standing here."

Heart pounding even harder, Alena searched Montaya's face, trying to find a sign that he had even a hint that she hadn't been alone, but he didn't look suspicious or mad or betrayed—he just looked curious and kind of sad.

His next words confirmed her that he hadn't been there long enough to have caught even a glimpse of Rephaim.

"You sealed it off to keep the rest of them from getting to the abbey like Stevie Rae wanted to do, didn't you?"

Alena nodded and tried not to let the wave of relief she felt show in her voice. "Yeah, Stevie Rae told me to seal it up so I asked Nyx to do it for me. She didn't think it was smart to give them an access to the nuns."

"It would be kind of like a buffet de Viejas." Montoya eyes glinted mischievously as he said the last word in Spanish.

"Don't be mean." But she couldn't help grinning at him. Montoya really was adorable. Not only was he her unofficial boyfriend, but he was also a genius with anything to do with electricity or plumbing or basically whatever you'd find at Home Depot just like Dallas.

Grinning back at her, he moved closer and pushed back her bangs to her ear. "I'm not being mean. I'm telling the truth. And you can't tell me you haven't at least thought about how easy it would be to chomp on these nuns."

"Montoya!" She narrowed her eyes at him, truly shocked by what he'd said. "Heck no I haven't thought about eating a nun! It doesn't even _sound _right. And like I said before, it's not nice to eat people. It's not good for you."

"Hey, relax, cutie. I'm just messing with you." He glanced behind her at the wall of earth.

"So, how do you think Stevie Rae is going to explain this to Zoey and the rest of them?"

"I don't know. I'm thinking of telling her that she should just tell the truth. It's bothering her and it won't be long before Zoey finds out or one of the fledglings' say something that will slip from their mouths."

"I thought she wanted to stay quiet about the rest of the fledglings because she thought they might come around and be more like us."

"I don't know, Montoya. It really is up to Stevie Rae not me but I can convince her to tell the truth."

"All right, it's up to Stevie Rae. I mean, she is our High Priestess. Tell Stevie Rae that she should tell Zoey and them about the rest of the fledglings'. Actually, you can do that right now. Zoey just called a meeting in the cafeteria. I came looking for you to tell you about it."

"How did you find me?"

He smiled at her again and it caused her stomach to flip. He slipped his arm around her shoulders. "I know you, cutie. It wasn't very hard to figure out where you'd

be."

They started walking out of the tunnel together. Alena wrapped her arm around his waist. She let herself lean against him, glad that he felt normal and totally guy-like beside her.

It was a relief to have her world shift back to what she knew was right.

She'd put Rephaim out of her mind. She'd helped someone who'd been hurt, that's all. And now she was done with him.

Seriously, he was just one badly injured Raven Mocker. How much trouble could he cause?

"You know me, huh?" She butted him with her hip.

He pressed right back against her. "Not as well as I wish I knew you, cutie."

Alena giggled, ignoring his double meaning. She liked him, a lot and wanted to be a part of his life. He always knew what she wanted or what she was feeling, she loved that about him.

She ignored the fact that she could still smell Rephaim's dark scent on her skin.


	8. Zoey 8

Alena and Montoya were walking together, hand in hand when they spotted Stevie Rae coming from the other direction.

"Hey, there she is." Alena's stomach clenched with nervousness. She didn't know what to say but she also didn't want them to find out about Rephaim.

"I know but I'm not sure she'll listen to me."

"She has to, Cutie. She's your high priestess. She won't bite , not you at least."

"Montoya!" she yelled a little too loudly.

"Sorry,"

She sighed loudly as she saw Stevie Rae get closer to them. "Can you wait for me in the dining room? Get me something to eat. I'm starving."

"Anything for you, cutie." He planted a quick but passionate kiss on her lips that made her weak kneed and slightly dizzy before walking off.

"Good luck" he said as he disappeared down the hall.

"I'm gonna need it," she mumbled softly.

"Alena?" Stevie Rae asked. Alena sighed internally and knew she had to ask for forgiveness for her attitude. She didn't mean to snap at them but she was really worried and felt defensive.

"Hi, Stevie Rae," she said, gathering her strength to look her in the eye. "I'm sorry for yesterday. I guess I was stressed about the whole thing. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course. I've been stressed too, especially with hiding you-know-who" she said as they hugged tightly. Stevie Rae wrinkled her nose as she noticed that Alena smelled like basement and earth and something else.

Alena's heart thumped faster as she knew she had to tell Stevie Rae about what she did and what she wanted.

"Stevie Rae, we need to talk about the other red fledglings."

"Shh! Not so loud" Her voice slightly panicked, searching hoping no one heard her.

"Sorry. Look, I need to tell you something. After I walked off, I did something in one of the tunnels."

She played with her bangs as they fell in her face.

"What did you do?" Stevie Rae asked seriously, staring at her, noticing how nervous she was.

"You need to tell Zoey about the red fledglings."

"What? Why?"

"Please, just hear me out…" she begged as she refused to look Stevie Rae in the eye. "I asked Nyx to help close off the tunnel that they were staying in since I was worried that they might be interested in eating the nuns. You know, fresh human blood."

She wasn't exactly lying. Those fledglings liked human blood. "She helped me close them off but I didn't ask for your help because I was worried you were going to say something."

"Okay," Stevie Rae just listened to her. "They didn't change when you did like the rest of us and you changing made me the second red vampyre. I think they're still bad and I know you want to give them time so they can choose the good but frankly, I don't think they are. They don't look like they want to change."

Stevie Rae sighed and rubbed her temples. Why did Alena have to bring up the red fledglings now?

"Why? Why now?"

"Well, because of what happened recently. You know with Kalona and Neferet and stuff. We're running out of time, Stevie Rae. Those fledgling aren't going to wait to change. They won't change."

"I can't. I…I can't tell Zoey. She'll hate me." Stevie Rae said as she twirled a blonde curl.

Alena hated what she was going to say next but she really needed this in order to save Rephaim.

"Stevie Rae, I'm sorry for bringing this up but we don't have time to wait for them change. If you won't tell her, I will."

Stevie Rae stopped in her tracks and stared at Alena. She surveyed her as she saw only determination and seriousness in her face.

"You wouldn't"

She saw her take in a breath and let it out slowly. "I can and I will if you don't say anything. We don't have time. While we wait, Kalona is off doing who knows what and Neferet is with him and that isn't a good sign. You told me so yourself."

"But Alena, we have to keep them a secret. Zoey can't know. She'll hate me."

"She won't hate you. You two are best of friends. She can't hate you. She loves you like as sister and you do too. Without her, you wouldn't be here right now. You _need _to tell her before they start talking about plans on what to do with Kalona. It'll help."

Something she said made Stevie Rae rethink about telling Zoey about the red fledglings. _She loves you like a sister._ She did love her as a sister and they've been through so much together. But she was also afraid that Zoey would hate her if she told them.

But Alena was right, they didn't have time to wait for them to change and pick good. They had no time. She needed to tell them about it. If she didn't, Alena would and she knew, just knew Alena was going to do it.

She sighed deeply as she stared at Alena, her answer chosen. "Okay, Alena. I'll tell her, I'll tell her about the fledglings."

She noticed a look of relief flash in Alena's face and she thought that she was burdened with keeping secrets from people.

She knew Alena hated keeping secrets and she wouldn't be able to hold out long. She was surprised Alena held out as long as she did.

"Thank you, Stevie Rae. You'll see. Zoey will understand."

"I hope so,"

Stevie Rae wanted to ask something else about the odd smell that radiated from Alena but Dallas, her boyfriend came up and placed a arm on her shoulder.

"Hey there, my queen. Ready to go in?" he said, admiring her with yes filled with love. Stevie Rae couldn't help but lean into him and hug him.

Alena disappeared without anther word which was odd.

"Yeah, I'm ready" she pondered about her second red vampyre and her attitude until she heard Aphrodite's voice.

"…what we're doing next than stress about her."

"Stress? Did someone say they were stressin'?" Stevie Rae jogged around the corner of the hallway with Dallas at her side.

"Hey there, Z!" She enveloped Zoey in a big hug. She noticed that Alena was by Montoya, eating quietly.

"Hey," Zoey said quickly under her breath to her. "I dumped Erik and he's hooked up with Venus—in front of everybody."

"Well, that sucks like your mama forgettin' your birthday," she said out loud, not paying any attention to the audience.

"Yeah," Zoey said. "It definitely sucks."

"You gonna go in and face him, or turn tail and run?" she asked with a wickedly cute smile.

"What do you think, Ado Annie?" Aphrodite said. "Z doesn't run from a fight."

"Who's Ado Annie?" Heath asked.

"Dunno," Stark said.

"That's a character from the musical _Oklahoma_!" Sister Mary Angela said as she tried to stifle a giggle by clearing her throat.

"Shall we have breakfast?" Smiling, the nun headed into the cafeteria.

Zoey sighed and had the urge to run shrieking down the hall in the opposite direction.

"Come on, Z. Let's go in there and get somethin' to eat. Plus, I got stuff to tell y'all that's gonna make your boyfriend issues seem like nothin'." Stevie Rae grabbed her hand, and swinging it, pulled her into the dining room.

Trailed by Stark, Heath, Darius, Aphrodite, and Dallas, they found their seats beside Sister Mary Angela at the same table where Damien, Jack, Alena, Montoya and the Twins were already sitting.

"Hey, Z! You're finally up! Check out the seriously yummy pancakes the nun cooks made us," Jack bubbled at Zoey

"Pancakes?"

"Yeah! There're plates and plates of this stuff _and _bacon and hash browns. It's better than IHOP!" He glanced down the table and yelled, "Hey! Pass the pancakes!"

Platters started to clatter our way, and Zoey's mouth began to water

"We like French toast better," Shaunee said.

"Yeah, it's not as mushy," Erin said.

"Pancakes aren't mushy," Jack said.

"Merry meet, Z," Damien spoke up, obviously defusing a pancake debate.

"Merry meet," Zoey smiled at him.

"Hey, except for your poofy hair you look lots better than you did before," Jack said.

"Thanks. I think." Zoey said through a big bite of pancake.

"I think she looks amazing," Stark said from where he was sitting a little way down the table.

"Me, too. I like Zoey's bed head," Heath grinned at Zoey.

Zoey rolled her eyes at both of them when Erik's voice drifted across the room to.

"Really, _really _crowded over there." His back was turned, but that didn't stop his voice from projecting obnoxiously.

"Wait, Erik's with Venus?" Jack's voice caught her attention.

"We broke up last night," Zoey said, nonchalantly forking pancakes onto her plate and waving at Erin to pass her the platter of bacon.

"Yeah, that's what Aphrodite told us. But now he's with _Venus_? Just like that?" Jack repeated, staring at Erik and the aforementioned Venus, who was spider monkeying all over him so much that everyone was shocked that he could even eat.

"I thought he was a nice guy." Jack sounded totally young and disillusioned, like Erik had just burst his perfect-guy bubble.

"It's okay, Jack. Erik's not really a bad guy. We're just bad _together_,"

"Aphrodite had another vision."

"What did you see?" Damien asked her.

Aphrodite glanced at her, and Zoey nodded almost imperceptibly. "Kalona burning up vamps and people."

"_Burning _them?" Shaunee spoke right up. "Sounds like something I should be able to discourage. I am Miss Fire."

"Right you are, Twin," Erin said.

"Brain sharers—_you _weren't in the vision." Aphrodite jabbed her syrupy fork at the Twins. "Fire and blood and horror and whatnot were. You two were probably shopping."

Shaunee and Erin narrowed their eyes at Aphrodite.

"Where was Zoey?" Damien asked.

Aphrodite's gaze found Zoey's as she answered. "Zoey was there. In one of my visions that was a good thing. In the other, not so good."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack asked.

"The vision was confusing. Seemed like what I saw was a double-edged sword."

To Zoey it was obvious that she was stalling, and she was just opening her mouth to tell her to go ahead and tell them everything when Kramisha, who was sitting down the table to my right, raised her arm and waved around the piece of paper she was holding.

"I know what it means," she said. "Or I know part a what it means. I wrote this before I went to bed last night." She smiled at Sister Mary Angela. "After we finished watching that nun movie."

"I'm glad you liked it, dear," Sister Mary Angela said.

"I did, but I still think them kids was bad."

"What are you flailing around?" Aphrodite asked.

"You could be a little patient," Kramisha said. "And show some manners. It's for Zoey anyway. Here, pass it down to her."

The piece of paper was passed from person to person till it got to Zoey. As everyone had probably suspected, it was one of Kramisha's poems.

Aphrodite said, "Please tell me it's not another one of those prophetic poems. Goddess, they give me a headache."

"Better stock up on Tylenol," Zoey said. She read the first line, blinked, and then looked up at Aphrodite. "What did you say just a second ago? Something about a sword?"

"She said you bein' there with Kalona was a double-edged sword. That's what made me give you the poem now, 'stead of waitin' for a more private time." Kramisha's sharp gaze found Erik, then she added, "I have more sense than some people 'bout puttin' my business all out in public."

"That's the first line of this poem, 'A double-edged sword,'" Zoey said.

"That's spooky," said Stevie Rae.

"Yep," Zoey said, staring at the poem. "Spooky is a good word for it."

"What do you want to do about it?" Damien asked.

"I want to take the poem and, with the help of my friends, figure it out. But I want to do it at home," she said simply.

Damien smiled and nodded. "Home. That sounds good."

"What do you think?"

"I think I miss the Vichy shower in my room," she said.

"Darius?" Zoey asked.

"We have to go back before we can focus on going forward."

"Shaunee and Erin?"

They glanced at each other, and then Erin said, "Home. Definitely."

"Stevie Rae?"

"Well, I have somethin' to tell y'all before you make any big decisions."

"Okay, go ahead," Zoey said.

Alena held in a breath as she listened. Montoya pulled her closer to him for support.

Alena watched Stevie Rae suck in a big, long breath and then blow it out through her pursed lips, like she was taking an asthma test. Her words followed her breath and she spoke quickly and clearly, letting what she said carry throughout the room.

"There're more red fledglings than just the kids here. They didn't change when I did like these guys. They're still bad. I think—I think they might still be connected to Neferet." She turned to Alena, then to Zoey and her eyes begged her to understand.

"I didn't say anything to you 'cause I wanted to give them a chance. I thought that they'd find their humanity again if they were just left alone and could think through things on their own, or if maybe I could help them. I'm sorry, Z. I didn't mean to cause any problems and I never wanted to lie to you."

Zoey felt relieved that she'd finally told the truth.

"Sometimes you can't tell your friends everything you'd like to tell them," Zoey said.

Stevie Rae let out her breath on a sob. "Oh, Z! You don't hate me?"

"Of course not," Zoey said. "I've had to keep some pretty crappy secrets, so I get it."

"Where are they?" Damien's question would have seemed harsh, but his voice was gentle, his warm brown eyes filled with understanding.

"They're in the depot tunnels. Alena just sealed off the dirt tunnel that I made to get everyone here. She didn't want any of the others following us and causing the nuns problems."

"But I thought you were the only one who had the earth affinity."

"Yes, she is," Alean said as she began to talk. "But Nyx did all the work. I just asked for her help. Nyx can help If you are willing to ask for it.

"That's right!" Damien said. "Nyx has all the power in the world and she helps her children if they ask for her help. Of course, they don't do the work. Nyx does."

"You should have warned us last night," Darius said. "We would have posted guards while everyone was sleeping."

"There were rogue red fledglings at the other end of your tunnel?" Sister Mary Angela's hand found the rosary that hung around her neck.

"Oh, Sister, you weren't in any danger. Darius, we didn't need to post guards, promise!" Stevie Rae quickly explained. "Those other kids are affected by daylight big-time. They never move around while the sun's up, not even in the tunnels."

Darius's frown said he still would have posted a guard. Sister Mary Angela didn't say anything, but Zoey saw her fingers worrying her rosary beads.

"Did you know about these other fledglings?" Zoey asked Stark

"Me? Hell no. I would've told you right away," Stark said.

"I should have told you right away. I'm real sorry I didn't," Stevie Rae said.

"Sometimes the truth can get buried and it's hard to figure out how to uncover it," Zoey told her, and then she looked around the room at the other red fledglings, not bothering to look at Alena, the transformed Vampyre. "You guys all knew, didn't you?"

Kramisha spoke up. "We knew. We don't like them other kids. They's bad news."

"They smell bad, too," little Shannoncompton said from a ways down the table.

"They suck," Dallas said. "And they remind us of how it used to be."

"That's something we don't like to remember," said muscle-y Johnny B.

Zoey turned her attention back to Stevie Rae. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"Well, I don't think it's smart for us to go back to the depot tunnels right now, so going home to the House of Night sounds good to me, too."

"Then it's settled. We go home," Zoey said.


	9. Zoey 9

"I'm all for getting back where we belong, but your grandma should stay here," Aphrodite said suddenly.

"We don't know what all we're going to have to deal with at the House of Night."

"Did your visions show you something else?" I asked, noticing that she was looking at Stevie Rae instead of me.

Aphrodite shook her head slowly. "No, I told you everything I saw in my visions. I just have a feeling, that's all."

Alena laughed nervously. Stevie Rae noticed but answered Aphrodite. "Well, heck, Aphrodite, we're all _feelin' _jumpy and on edge, which makes total sense. We just chased away some major booger monsters, but that's no reason to freak Zoey out."

"I'm not freaking her out, bumpkin," Aphrodite said. "I'm just being careful."

"It is wise to anticipate dangers," Darius said thoughtfully.

Since there was nothing wrong with being careful, I opened my mouth to agree with both of them when Stevie Rae turned to Darius and in a cold, flat voice said, "Just because you've sworn your Warrior's Oath to her doesn't mean you have to agree with everything she says."

"What?" Stark said. "You gave Aphrodite your Oath?"

"Really?" Damien said.

"Wow, too cool," Jack said.

Erik snorted from the table behind us. "I'm shocked Zoey let you and didn't just add you to her private collection."

By that time I'd had enough. I yelled over at him, "Oh, go to hell, Erik!"

"Zoey!" Sister Mary Angela gasped.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"Don't be sorry," Aphrodite said, glaring at Stevie Rae. "Hell isn't a bad word. It's a place. And some people do need to be sent there."

"What?" Stevie Rae said innocently. "You didn't want everyone to know about you and Darius?"

"My business is _my _business," Aphrodite said.

"Just like I was sayin' before," Kramisha nodded sagely. "It just ain't right to put your personal business all out in public." She turned her dark eyes on Stevie Rae. "I know you our High Priestess and all, so I don't mean no disrespect, but I think you was raised better than that."

Stevie Rae looked instantly contrite. "You're right, Kramisha. I guess I didn't think it was that big a deal. I mean, everyone would know sooner or later." She smiled at me and shrugged her shoulders.

"A Warrior's Oath isn't exactly somethin' you can hide." She turned to Aphrodite. "Sorry, I wasn't tryin' to be mean."

"I'm not interested in your apology. I'm not Zoey. I'm not going to automatically believe everything you say."

"Okay, _enough!_" I shouted. Anger and frustration added power to my words, and I saw several kids flinch. "All of you need to listen up and get something straight. We can't fight big, world-ending evil if we're bickering with each other! Stevie Rae and Aphrodite—get over the fact that you're Imprinted and learn not to embarrass each other."

I saw hurt in Aphrodite's eyes and shock in Stevie Rae's, but I kept going. "Stevie Rae, don't keep important stuff from me, even if you think you have a good reason to."

I looked squarely at Erik, who had turned around in his chair so he could stare at me. "And Erik, we have lots bigger problems than you being pissed I dumped you." I heard Stark chuckle and I rounded on him. "You don't get a free pass, either."

Stark raised his hands like he was surrendering. "I'm just laughing because Erik the Great got put in his place."

"Which is real crappy of you since you can feel how much this whole thing with you and Erik and Heath has hurt my feelings."

Stark's cocky smile faded.

"Darius, it's an icy mess out there, but do you think you can drive the Hummer back to the House of Night?" I asked.

"I do," said the warrior.

"Who's good on a horse?" Instantly several hands went up like I was a mean teacher and they were all scared of being in trouble.

"Shaunee, you and Erin can ride the horse you got here on." I looked around at the kids still holding up their hands. "Johnny B, can you and Kramisha double on the other mare?"

"Yep, we can," he said. Kramisha nodded briskly, and they both put down their hands.

"Stark, you can ride behind me on Persephone," I said without looking at him. "Damien, Jack, Aphrodite, Shannoncompton, Venus, and . . ." I stared at a brunette red fledgling whose name I absolutely could not remember.

"Sophie," Stevie Rae said hesitantly, like she was scared I might snap her head off.

"And Sophie. You guys go with Darius in the Hummer." I looked at Stevie Rae. "Can you be sure the rest of the red fledglings and Erik get to the House of Night safely?"

"If that's what you want me to do, then that's what I'll do," she said.

"Good. Finish breakfast and then let's go home." I stood up and took in all the nuns with one long look. "I appreciate you helping us more than I'll ever be able to tell you. As long as I'm alive, the Benedictine Sisters will have a High Priestess as a friend."

Then I turned to leave. As I passed Stark, I saw him start to get up, but I caught his eyes and shook my head. "I'm going to say bye to Grandma—by myself." I could see that I'd hurt him, but he only saluted me respectfully and said, "As you wish, my lady."

Ignoring the silence I left in my wake, I walked out of the room, alone.


	10. Rephaim 10

Awakening was difficult.

Even in the wispy realm that was the boundary between the conscious and unconscious mind, even before he fully felt the pain that wracked his abused body, Rephaim was aware of her scent.

At first he thought he was back in the shed and the nightmare had just begun—just after the accident when she'd come, not to kill him, but to bring him water and bind his wounds. Then he realized it was too warm for him to still be in the shed.

He shifted slightly and the pain that coursed through his body brought full consciousness with it, and with consciousness came memory.

He was belowground, in the tunnels she'd sent him to, and he hated it.

It wasn't a hatred that bordered on paranoia, as did his father's. Rephaim simply despised the confined feeling of being beneath the earth. There was no sky above him—no green and growing world beneath him. He couldn't soar belowground. He couldn't—

The Raven Mocker's thoughts ended abruptly.

No. He wouldn't think of his permanently damaged wing and what that meant for the rest of his life. He couldn't think of that. Not yet. Not while his body was still so weak.

Rephaim thought of her instead.

It was an easy thing to do, surrounded by her scent as he was.

He shifted again, this time being more careful of his shattered wing. With his good arm he pulled the blanket over himself and burrowed, nestlike, into the warmth of the bed. Her bed.

He noticed a picture of her and he stared at it. She was wearing a pink short sleeved top that clung to her curves with dark pink polka dots on the sleeves. A red skirt with a pink sash, below the knee pink socks, red flats and a dark green ribbon tied around her neck into a bow.

All of her clothes matched, even right down to her sun kissed skin.

He realized she was wearing the same outfit when she closed the tunnel and sent him down here.

He pulled his gaze away from the picture when he realized that even underground there was an odd and illogical sense of security that came to him from being somewhere she'd called her own.

He didn't understand why she had this singular effect on him. Rephaim just knew that he'd followed Alena's directions, stumbling through agony and exhaustion until he realized what he was really following was the scent of Alena.

It had led him through the winding, apparently deserted tunnels. He'd stopped at the kitchen and forced himself to eat and drink.

The fledglings had left behind refrigerators filled with food. Refrigerators! That was one of the many miracles of the modern age he'd been observing for the long years he was only spirit.

He'd spent what felt like an eternity watching and waiting . . . dreaming of the day he could touch and taste and truly live again.

Rephaim had decided he liked refrigerators. He wasn't at all sure whether he liked the modern world, though.

In just the short time his body had been returned to him, he'd realized that most modern humans had no real respect for the power of the ancients.

The Raven Mocker didn't count vampyres among the ranks of the ancients. They were nothing more than attractive playthings.

Amusements and distractions. No matter what his father said, they were unworthy to rule beside him.

Was that why the daughter of the Red One had allowed him to live? Because she was too weak and ineffective—too _modern _to take the steps she should have and killed him.

Then he thought about the strength she had exhibited, and not just her physical strength, which was impressive.

Neferet, warned that the leader of the Red Ones was not to be underestimated and Rephaim knew that she meant the one called Stevie Rae that Alena talked about.

And there he was, drawn by her scent to her bed, where he was practically nesting.

With a cry of disgust, he lurched from the comfortable warmth of blankets and pillows and thick mattress and staggered to his feet.

He stood there, leaning against the table that was near the end of the bed, struggling to remain upright and not let the unrelenting darkness of this place pull him under.

He would trace his path back to the kitchen. He would eat and drink again. He would light every lantern he could find.

Rephaim would will himself to heal, and then he would leave this tomblike place and return aboveground to find his father—to find his place in the world.

Rephaim pushed aside the blanket that served as a door to Alena's room and limped into the tunnel.

_I'm already better . . . stronger . . . I don't have to use the cane to walk, _he told himself.

The darkness was almost complete. There were intermittent lanterns, though many of them were guttering. Rephaim picked up his pace.

He'd refill and light the lanterns after he stuffed himself. He'd even drink the bags of blood he'd found one of the refrigerators filled with, though it held no special appeal to him. His body needed fuel to mend, just as the lanterns needed fuel to burn.

Fighting against the agony each movement caused, Rephaim followed the curve in the tunnel and finally entered the kitchen.

He opened the first refrigerator and was pulling a bag of sliced ham from it when he felt the cold blade of a knife against his lower back.

"One move I don't like, birdboy, and I cut your spinal cord in half. That _will _kill you dead, won't it?"

Rephaim went absolutely still. "Yes, that would kill me."

"He looks part dead to me anyway," said another female voice.

"Yeah, that wing is totally fucked up. He don't look like he can do shit to us," said a male.

The knife didn't move from his spine. "Others underestimating us is what got us here. So we don't _ever _underestimate _anyone_. Got it?" said the voice that belonged to the knife.

"Yeah, sorry, Nicole."

"I got it."

"So, birdboy, here's how we're gonna play this: I'm gonna step back and you're gonna turn around—real slow. Don't get any smart ideas. My knife won't be on you, but Kurtis and Starr both have guns. Make a wrong move and you'll be just as dead as if I'd cut through your spine."

The point of the knife pressed hard enough against Rephaim to draw a bead of blood.

"He smells wrong!" said the male voice that belonged to Kurtis. "He ain't even good eatin'."

Nicole ignored him. "You understand me, birdboy?"

"I do."

The knife pressure left his spine and Rephaim heard the shuffling noise of moving feet.

"Turn around."

Rephaim did as he was told and found himself facing three fledglings. The red crescent moons on their foreheads identified them as part of the Red One's flock.

But he knew instantly that though they, too, were red, they were as different from Alena as was

the moon from the sun.

He gave Kurtis, a huge male fledgling, and Starr, an ordinary-looking, light-haired girl, cursory glances, though they were holding handguns up and pointed at him. It was Nicole on whom he focused his attention.

She was obviously the leader. She was also the one who'd drawn his blood, something Rephaim would never forget.

She was a small fledgling with long dark hair and large eyes so brown they appeared black. Rephaim looked into those eyes and felt a moment of complete shock—Neferet was there!

In this fledgling child's eyes lurked the distinctive darkness and intelligence that Rephaim had seen so many times in the Tsi Sgili's gaze.

That recognition shocked the Raven Mocker so deeply that for a moment he could only stare, his single thought was _Does Father know she has attained the ability to project herself?_

"Damn! He looks like he seen a ghost," Kurtis said, the gun bobbing up and down with his chuckles.

"I thought you said you didn't know any of the Raven Mockers," said Starr, her tone clearly suspicious.

Nicole blinked, and the familiar shade of Neferet was gone, leaving Rephaim to wonder if he'd imagined the presence.

No. Rephaim didn't imagine things. Neferet had been present, even if only for an instant, within the fledgling.

"I've never seen one of these things before in my life." Nicole turned to Starr, though she still kept her gaze trained on Rephaim.

"Are you saying you think I'm a liar?"

Nicole hadn't raised her voice, but Rephaim, who was accustomed to being in the presence of power and danger, recognized that this particular fledgling seethed with an aggression that was barely controlled.

Starr obviously recognized it, too, as she instantly backed down.

"No, no, no. I didn't mean anything like that. It's just weird that he freaked when he saw you."

"That was weird," Nicole said smoothly. "And maybe we should ask him why. So, birdboy, what's with you being down here in our territory?"

Rephaim noted that Nicole hadn't actually asked him the question she'd implied she was going to ask.

"Rephaim," he said, willing strength into his voice. "My name is Rephaim."

All three fledglings' eyes widened, as if surprised he would actually have a name.

"He sounds almost normal," Starr said.

"He's anything but normal, and you better remember that," Ni-cole snapped. "Answer my question, _Rephaim_."

"I escaped into the tunnels after being wounded by a warrior from the House of Night," he said truthfully.

Rephaim's instincts, which had served him well for centuries, told him to remain silent about Alena and her leader, Stevie Rae, that even though these must be the rogue red fledglings that Alena said that Stevie Rae was protecting had been protecting, they were not truly of her flock, nor did they follow her.

"The tunnel between here and the abbey collapsed," said Nicole.

"It was open when I entered it."

Nicole took a step toward him and sniffed the air. "You smell of Alena."

Rephaim made a dismissive gesture with his good hand. "I reek of the bed I slept in." He cocked his head to the side, as if confused by what she'd said. "You say I carry Alena scent. Is she not the Red One, your High Priestess?"

"Hell no! That goody-goody two shoes aint good for nothing; Stevie Rae's a red vampyre, the _real _high priestess, but she isn't _our _High Priestess!" Nicole snarled, and her eyes took on a red glow.

"Not your High Priestess?" Rephaim pushed. "But there was a red vampyre priestess called Stevie Rae who stood with a group of fledglings against my father and his queen. She had your markings. Is she not your High Priestess?"

"That was the battle where you were hurt?" Nicole ignored his question to ask her own.

"It was."

"What happened? Where's Neferet?"

"Gone." Rephaim didn't hide the bitterness in his voice. "She fled with my father and those of my brothers who still live."

"Where'd they go?" Kurtis asked.

"If I knew that, I would not be hiding in the earth like a coward. I would be at my father's side where I belong."

"Rephaim." Nicole gave him a long, considering look. "I've heard that name before."

The Raven Mocker stayed silent, knowing it was better for her to come to the understanding of who he was without him having to brag about his position like a braying ass.

When her eyes widened, he knew she'd remembered where it was she'd heard his name.

"She said you were Kalona's favorite—his most powerful son."

"Yes, that is who I am. Who is this _she _who's been talking about me?"

Again, Nicole ignored his question. "What covered the door to the room you slept in?"

"A checked blanket."

"Alena room," Starr said. "That's why he smells like her."

Nicole acted as if Starr hadn't spoken. "Kalona took off without you, even though you're his favorite."

"Yesssss," Rephaim drew out the hiss of anger that came with the acknowledgment.

Nicole spoke to Kurtis and Starr. "You know this has to mean that they're coming back. This birdboy is Kalona's favorite. No way is he going to leave him here forever. Just like we're her favorites. He'll come back for him; she'll come back for us."

"Do you speak of the Red One, Stevie Rae?"

In a motion so fast her body blurred, Nicole moved to Rephaim's side, clamped her hands around his battered shoulders, and in one smooth motion lifted the huge Raven Mocker off the ground and slammed him against the side of the tunnel.

Eyes blazing red, she breathed rancid breath into his face as she said, "Get this, birdboy. Stevie Rae, or the Red One as you keep calling her, isn't our High Priestess. She isn't our boss. She isn't one of us. She's tight with Zoey and that bunch, and that's not cool. See, we don't have a High Priestess, we have a queen, and her name is Neferet. Now, what's with this obsession with Stevie Rae?"

Agony seared through Rephaim. His broken wing was on fire, lighting his body with white-hot agony. With everything inside him he wished he was whole again so that he could destroy this arrogant red fledgling with one slice of his beak.

But he wasn't whole. He was weak and wounded and abandoned.

"My father wanted her captured. He said she was dangerous. Neferet didn't trust her. I am not obsessed. I am only following my father's will," he choked out through the pain.

"How about we see if you're really telling us the truth," Nicole said. Then she tightened her already viselike grip on his arm, closed her eyes, and bowed her head.

Incredibly, Rephaim felt her palms begin to heat. The heat radiated through him, tracing his bloodstream, pounding in time with the frantic beating of his heart, and slamming into his body.

A shudder went through Nicole, then she opened her eyes and lifted her head. Her smile was sly. She continued to hold him against the wall for one very long minute more before she dropped him.

Looking down at where he'd crumpled on the floor, she said, "She saved you."

"What the fuck?" Kurtis shouted.

"Stevie Rae saved him?" Starr said.

"No, Alena did."

"She saved him?" Starr asked again.

Nicole and Rephaim acted as if neither had spoken.

"She did," Rephaim gasped, fighting to get his breathing under control so he wouldn't pass out. Then he said nothing more, only tried to figure out what had just happened while he breathed through the radiating pain in his wing.

The red fledgling had done something to him when she'd touched him—something that had given her a glimpse into his mind, maybe even his soul.

But he also knew that he was unlike any being she'd ever before touched; his thoughts would be difficult, if not nearly impossible for her to read, no matter her talents.

"Why would Alena do that?" Nicole asked him.

"You saw into my mind. You know that I have no idea why she did what she did."

"That much is true," she said slowly. "It's also true that I didn't pick up that you have any bad feelings toward her. What's with that?"

"I'm not sure what you mean. Bad feelings? That makes no sense to me."

She scoffed. "No sense—like you have any sense? Your mind was the weirdest thing I've ever looked into. So it's like this, birdboy, you say you're still doing what your dad told you to do. At the very least that should mean you want to capture her— maybe kill her."

"My father did not want her killed. He wanted her brought to him unharmed so he could study her, and maybe use her powers," Rephaim said.

"Whatever. But, see, the problem is, when I looked into that bird-brain of yours, I didn't find anything that said you're after her."

"Why would I be after her right now? She isn't here."

Nicole shook her head. "No, see, that's just weird. If you want to get Stevie Rae, you _want to get her, _whether she's here or not."

"That isn't logical."

Nicole stared at him. "Look, this is what I have to know. Are you with us or not?"

"With you?"

"Yeah, _with us_. We're going to kill Stevie Rae but the only way to do that is to get Alena killed. Alena is Stevie Rae's favorite! Kill Alena and Stevie Rae will have to come. We won't kill her _if _you say your father needs her. I'm sure she'll go willingly if Alena's is dead."

She spoke matter-of-factly while she moved with her preternatural speed to his side and grasped his arm in her iron grip.

Rephaim's bicep heated instantly as she probed his thoughts. "So, what's your choice? Are you with us, or not?"

Rephaim knew he had to answer. Nicole might not be able to read all of his thoughts, but obviously she had enough power that she could discover things he'd rather keep hidden.

Making the decision quickly, he met the red fledgling's scarlet gaze with his own and said truthfully, "I am my father's son."

She stared at him, her hand burning the flesh of his arm and her eyes glowing red. Then she smiled her sly smile again. "Good answer, bird boy, 'cause that's the major thing I found inside your bird head. You definitely are your dad's kid."

She let loose of him. "Welcome to my team, and don't worry. Since your dad's not here right now, I don't think he'll care whether if Stevie Rae goes back to evil when you catch her after we kill Alena."

"Most definitely," Starr said.

Nicole laughed, sounding so much like Neferet that the feathers at the nape of Rephaim's neck lifted in response.

_Father! Beware!_

His mind shrieked, _The Tsi Sgili is more than what she seems!_


	11. Rephaim 11

"So that's the plan, birdboy. Are you up for this?" Unannounced and uninvited, the red fledgling leader, Nicole, had come into Alena's room, which Rephaim had claimed as his own, kicked the bed to wake him, and then started talking about her plan to trap Alena on the roof of a building.

"Even if, close to sunrise, you could lure the daughter of the red one to the roof of a building, how do you plan to hold her there?"

"The first part is simple because it's not just any building. It's this building. There're two round towers up there, all nicey-nice with decoration and crap when this place was actually something, back in the day. They're open to the sky 'cause it's _the roof_. We found a big metal grill we can chain over the top of one of them. No way can she get out. She's strong, but she can't break metal. She'll be trapped, and when the sun comes up she'll fry like a hamburger."

"Why would she be on the roof, even if it is the roof of this building?"

"That's even simpler. She'll be there 'cause you're gonna get her up there."

Rephaim didn't speak until he could control his shock, and then he chose his words carefully. "You think I can make the daughter of the red one come to the roof of a building near dawn? Why would I be able to do that? I'm not strong enough to overpower and carry her," he said, sounding more bored than curious.

"You won't need to. She saved you. And she had to do it without telling anyone. To me that says you mean something to her. Maybe even a bunch of something." Nicole scoffed at the thought. "Alena's pathetic. Always thinking she can save the world one little thing at a time and shit like that. That's why she's stupid enough to come back here close to dawn. She thinks Stevie Rae can save us. Well, we don't want to be saved!" Nicole started laughing and as the laughter overtook her, Rephaim saw the inklike shadow of Neferet slide across her eyes and taint her expression so that she appeared close to hysteria.

"Why would she want to save you?"

Rephaim's question ended Nicole's laughter as if he had slapped her across the face.

"What? You don't think we deserve saving?" Quick as an envious thought, she moved to the bed and grabbed his uninjured arm by the wrist. "How about I see what you do think?"

She stared at him as his arm radiated the heat of her psychic violation, and as that heat spread throughout his body and soul, Rephaim concentrated on one thing: his anger.

Nicole dropped his wrist and took a step back from him. "Wow," she chuckled uncomfortably.

"You're really pissed. What's that about?"

"It issss about being wounded and left behind to deal with children and their petty gamesssss!"

Nicole stepped back into his personal space and snarled, "This isn't petty! We're getting rid of Alena Rae so that we can do the shit we need to do, just like we told Neferet we would. So are you going to make nice and help us trap her, or do we leave you out of this and go with Plan B?"

Rephaim didn't hesitate. "What is it you want me to do?"

Nicole's smile reminded him of a lizard. "We'll show you the stairs that go up to the tower—the one on the opposite side of the roof from that stupid tree. I'm not taking the chance that she can figure out some way to pull it over to her and have it shield her enough so she lives. So you'll go to the other tower and wait. Be all crumpled up like we dragged you there after beating the shit outta you and draining you almost dry of blood. Which is exactly what I'm gonna tell Alena we did, but I'll make sure she knows you're still alive. Barely."

"She'll go up there to save me," Rephaim said in a perfectly emotionless voice.

"Again. Yeah. We're counting on it. Once she climbs into the tower with you, just stay hunkered down. We'll smack the grate over the top and chain it in place. The sun'll come up. Alena will burn up. Then we'll let you out. See, simple."

"It will work," Rephaim stated.

"Yeah, and check this out. If you decide at the last minute you're not with us after all, Kurtis or Starr will shoot your feathered ass and we'll throw you into the tower anyway. That'll work for us, too. 'Cause, see, you are Plan A and Plan B. You're just deader in one than the other."

"As I said to you before, my father commanded me to bring the Red One to him."

"Yeah, but I don't see your daddy around here anywhere."

"I do not know why you play this game with me. You have already admitted you know my father has not abandoned me. He will return for his favorite son. When he does I will have the Red One for him."

"And it's cool with you even though Alena has to die in order to lure Stevie Rae?"

"That does not concern me as long as I am in possession of the Red One"

"Well, you can definitely have it. I don't want to eat her, so I don't want her body." She cocked her head to the side and gave him an appraising look. "I saw inside that birdbrain of yours, and I know you're pissed, but I could also tell that you're guilty as hell. What's that about?"

"I should be at my father's side. Anything else is unacceptable."

Her bark of laughter lacked humor. "You are your father's son, aren't you?" She started to duck out of the blanket that was the door to the room. As she left she called back, "Get some sleep. You have a few hours before she'll be here. And if you need anything, Kurtis will be out here with his big gun. He'll get it for you. You just stay in there until I call. Got it?"

"Yesssss."

The red fledging left and Rephaim curled back up in the nest he'd made of Alena's bed. Before he fell into another healing sleep his single thought was that he wished the daughter of the Red One had let him die under that tree


	12. Alena 12

"I still disagree with you," Stevie Rae said.

"But it's my decision to make, right?" Alena said.

"It is. I just wish you would reconsider. Let me come with you."

"You know that dragon is still too messed up from Anastasia's death, and you're pretty much in charge here. The way things are going, we have to protect all the high priestess and I want to make sure it's safe until you go back." Alena said truthfully "Look, I'll be fine. I know them. They're not gonna hurt me, even if they've lost every bit of what's left of their minds. I think bein' back at the school would really help 'em."

Stevie Rae nodded. "Smart. They come back and I can help them find their humanity.

"That's kind of what I thought." Alena paused.

"I still argue back and forth with myself sometimes. Sometimes it feels like the darkness is so close to me that I could touch it. And I see it in my group—the ones who also found their humanity. It's not always easy for them, either." Stevie Rae said.

"Stevie Rae, don't stress yourself. You can see why I have to go back to the depot before you do. I have to keep you safe. You're our high priestess. You cant turn your back on them. Zoey didn't turn her back on Stark, even though he shot you, but it turned out okay in the end. You will make a fine High Priestess, Stevie Rae."

Stevie Rae's cheeks went all hot. "I'm not really a High Priestess. I'm just all they have."

"No, you are a High Priestess. Believe in yourself." She smiled at Stevie Rae. "So what are you going to do when I return to the depot?"

"I think I'll be sure the red fledglings here are set. You know, get the rooms straight and get stuff for them to wear and all. Plus, they have to be put back into all their classes, which is a real pain in the butt since the classes change every semester. Are you sure you shouldn't wait until tomorrow? Shouldn't you get settled here first?" Stevie Rae said.

"Well, the truth is I don't really know if we can settle here."

"Of course you can. The House of Night is your home."

"It _was _our home. Now we feel better resting in the earth during the day." Alena gave her nervous grin.

"That makes sense. You died. When that happens to any of us, all of our bodies return to the earth. Though you were resurrected, you'll have a connection with the earth we do not." Lenobia hesitated as she finally spoke to the girl

"There's a basement under the main House of Night building," she said. "It's used for storage and is not particularly habitable, but with some work . . ."

"Maybe," Alena said. "Let me see what happens with the kids at the depot. We really did like it there, and we were fixing it up real nice, too."

"I don't suppose there is any reason why we couldn't bus your fledglings back and forth. Human children do it every day."

Stevie Rae grinned. "The big yellow limo!"

Lenobia laughed. "Either way, we will make it work with your group. You are part of us, and this is your home."

"Home . . . That sounds nice," Alena said. "Okay, well, I better get busy if I'm gonna make it back to the depot before it gets close to dawn."

"Be sure to give yourself plenty of time. I don't want you stuck there, and the forecast is for lots of Oklahoma sunshine. Travis Meyers even reported it might get above freezing long enough to get rid of some of this ice."

"I'll be back before dawn."

"Excellent, then you'll have time to tell me how it went."

"And tell me if it's safe for me to go back and knock some sense into 'em"

"I'll come straight here." Alena started to get up and then changed her mind. She had to ask—Lenobia wouldn't think it was a totally weird question—and she _had to ask_.

"Um, so, the Raven Mockers were pretty bad, huh?" Stevie Rae noticed a change in her voice.

Lenobia's serene expression changed to disgust. "I pray to Nyx they were banished from this realm when their father was forced to flee from Tulsa."

"Have you ever heard of them before? I mean, did you know about them before they all flew out of the ground?"

Lenobia shook her head. "No. I knew nothing of them. I'd never even heard of the Cherokee legend. But I did recognize one thing about them very easily."

"You did? What?" Stevie Rae asked.

"Evil. I have battled evil before, and they were simply another of its dark faces."

"Do you think they were totally bad? I mean, they were part human."

"Not part human—part immortal."

"Yeah, that's what I meant."

"And the immortal they are part of is completely evil."

"But what if Kalona wasn't always like he is now? He came from somewhere. Maybe he was good there, and if that's true, then maybe there could be some good found in a Raven Mocker."

Lenobia and Stevie Rae studied Alena silently before replying. Then she spoke quietly, but with conviction.

"Alena, do not let the compassion get in the way of your thinking. It exists here in our world. It also exists in the Otherworld. It is tangible there, just as it is here. There is a great difference between a broken child and a creature fathered by evil and conceived through rape."

"That's basically what Sister Mary Angela said, too."

"The nun is a wise woman." Lenobia paused and then continued, "Alena, have you sensed something I should know about?"

"Oh, no!" she said hastily. "I was just thinking, that's all. You know, about good and evil and the choices we make. So I thought that maybe some of the Raven Mockers might be able to choose, too."

"If they had that ability they made the choice for evil long ago," Lenobia said.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right. Okay, well, I better get. I'll come back around and see you before dawn."

"I'll look forward to meeting with you. May Nyx be with you. And blessed be."

"Blessed be." Alena hurried from the stables, as if distance from the words she'd spoken could distance her from her guilt.

What had she been thinking when she said that stuff about Rephaim to Lenobia? She needed to keep her mouth shut and forget about him.

But how could she forget about him when there was a chance she was going to see him again when she went back to the depot?

She shouldn't have sent him there. She should have figured something else out. Or she should have turned him in!

No. No, it was too late to think about that. Now all Alena could do was damage control. First, contact the red fledglings.

Then, deal with the Rephaim issue. Again.

Of course he might not be an issue. The fledglings might not have found him. He didn't smell like food, and he wasn't in any shape to attack them.

He was probably hiding down in the darkest cubbyholed tunnel, licking his wounds. Or he could be dead.

Who knows what would happen to a Raven Mocker if a nasty infection set in.

Alena sighed and pulled her phone from the pocket of her hoodie. Praying the reception was back up in tunnels, she text messaged Nicole:

I need to see u tonite

She didn't have to wait long for a reply.

Busy. Won't be bk til dawn.

She frowned at her phone and responded.

Get bk be4.

She'd started to pace by the time Nicole managed to text her back.

Be there 6.

Alena wanted to grind her teeth together. Six o'clock was only an hour and a half before dawn. Stevie Rae had said she was really the biggest problem down there. The rest of the kids were just followers. Not very nice, but not like her.

She remembered Nicole from before she'd died. She'd been a mean girl then, and that hadn't changed. Actually, it'd gotten worse. So what Alena thought that Stevie Rae needed to get to Nicole.

If Stevie Rae turned her back on the darkness, then the rest of the kids would probably follow her.

OK.

Alena texted. Then she added,

Anything weird going on?

She held her breath, waiting for her phone to chime. Nicole would tell her if she'd found a Raven Mocker.

She'd probably think Rephaim was cool. Or maybe she'd just kill him right off, without thinking anything.

Either way, she'd blab it to Alena—it would make her feel all powerful and in charge.

Just looking for food. Live food. Wanna join us?

Alena knew it would do no good whatsoever to remind Nicole they shouldn't be eating people. Stevie Rae repeated it so many time.

No, not even homeless people or bad drivers (who they liked to follow and then grab as they got out of their cars).

She just texted back:

No. See u 6.

She stuck her phone back in her pocket. It was going to be a long night, especially that hour and a half between six and dawn.


	13. Alena 13

Alena knew she was going to die, and this time it would be for good. She was scared.

This time it was a betrayal and not a biological act.

The pain in her head was terrible. She reached up and felt gingerly around on the back of her head. Her hand came away soaked in her blood. Her thoughts were woozy.

What had happened? Alena tried to sit up, but a terrible dizziness claimed her, and with a groan, she puked her guts up, crying at the pain the movement caused her. Then she collapsed on her side, rolling away from the vomit.

That's when her tear-blurred gaze moved to the metal cage above her, and then the sky beyond it—a sky that was getting increasingly less gray and more blue.

Her memory rushed back, and with it panic made her breath come in short little pants. They'd trapped her here and the sun was rising!

Even now, even with the cage above her and the memory of their betrayal fresh in her mind, Alena didn't want to believe it.

Another wave of nausea washed over her, and she closed her eyes, trying to regain her equilibrium.

As long as her eyes were shut, she could control the horrible dizziness and her thoughts began to clear.

The red fledglings had done this. Nicole had been late for their meeting. Not like that had been all that shocking, but Alena waiting, so she had been in the process of leaving the empty tunnels to return to the House of Night when Nicole and Starr finally came into the basement.

They had been laughing and joking with each other, and had obviously just fed— their cheeks were still flushed and their eyes were glowing red from fresh blood.

Alena had tried to talk to them, remembering what Stevie Rae told her to say. Actually, she'd tried to _reason _with them and get them to return to the House of Night with her.

The two red fledglings had spent a long time being sarcastic and giving jerklike excuses not to go with her: "Nah, the vamps don't let us eat junk food and we heart us some junkies!" And "Will Rogers High School is right down the street on Fifth. If I want to go to school I'll go there—after dark—for _lunch."_

Still, she'd tried to be serious and give them good reasons for coming back to school, like not only was it their home.

They _needed _the House of Night.

They'd laughed at her, called her an old woman, and said they were totally cool staying at the depot, especially now that they had it to themselves.

Then Kurtis had lumbered into the basement, looking breathless and excited.

Alena remembered having a bad feeling from the second she'd seen him. The truth was she'd never liked the kid. He was a big, stupid pig farmer from northeastern Oklahoma who basically thought women were one step below hogs on the redneck What You're Worth Scale.

"Yepper, I found him and bit him!" He practically crowed.

"That thing? You got to be kidding. He smelled nasty," Nicole had said.

"Yeah, and how'd you get him to hold still while you ate him?" Starr asked.

Kurtis wiped his mouth with his sleeve. A splotch of red smeared his shirt and the scent of it hit Alena, completely shocking her.

_Rephaim! That was Rephaim's blood._

"I knocked him out first. It wasn't hard to do, with his broken wing and all."

"What are you talking about?" Alena snapped the words at Kurtis.

Bovinelike, he blinked at her. She was getting ready to grab him and shake him, when he finally answered.

"I'm talking about the birdboy. What'd you call 'em, Raven Mockers? One showed up here. We been chasin' it all around the depot. Nikki and Starr got sick of messing with it and went out to chomp on some of the late night Taco Bell fourth meal feeders, but I had me a taste for chicken. So I kept after him. Had to corner him up on the roof in one of those tower things, you know, the far one over there, away from the tree." Kurtis pointed up and to his left.

"But I got him."

"Did he taste as bad as he smelled?" Nicole's shock and revulsion were as obvious as her curiosity.

Kurtis shrugged his beefy shoulders. "Hey, I'll eat anything. Or anyone." They all dissolved into laughter. All except Alena.

"You have a Raven Mocker on the roof?"

"Yeah. Don't know why the hell he was down here in the first place. Especially all beat up and broken." Nicole lifted a brow at her. "Thought you said it was okay to go back to the House of Night 'cause Neferet and Kalona were gone. Looks like they left some shit behind, huh? Maybe they're not really gone."

"They're gone," Alena had said, already moving toward the door to the basement. "So none of you want to come back to school with me, back to Stevie Rae?"

Three heads shook silently back and forth as red-tinged eyes followed her every move.

"How about the others? Where are they?"

Nicole shrugged. "Wherever they want to be. Next time I see any of them I'll tell 'em you said they should go back to school." Kurtis cracked up. "Hey, that's great. Let's all just go back to school! Like that's something we really want to do?"

"Look, I got to go. It's almost sunrise. But you should know that Stevie Rae may want to bring the other red fledglings back here to live, even though we'll officially be part of the House of Night."

"How about this: How about you tell Stevie Rae to keep her pussy fledglings at school, and we'll stay here because _this _is where we live now," Kurtis said.

Alena stopped moving toward the exit. She hated the way they talked about Stevie Rae. Stevie Rae was her closest friend, the only one who knew _everything _about her even if they weren't best of friends.

She couldn't let them talk about _her _high priestess like she was nothing.

"I'm only gonna say this one more time. Stevie will bring the other red fledglings back here, this will

be our home." Her voice radiated off the walls, her need to shield Stevie Rae strong, not seeing the force field taking place in front of her.

Alena drew a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. When she spoke again her voice sounded normal and the force field disappeared.

"I'll be back tomorrow night. _With _Stevie Rae. She'll deal with you."

Without giving them another glance, Alena hurried out of the basement, through the maze of rubble and metal grates spread haphazardly around the abandoned depot grounds to the stone stairs that led from the parking lot at railroad track level up to the street level of what used to be a thriving railway station.

She had to be careful as she rushed up the stairs. It had stopped sleeting, and the sun had actually come out the day before, but night had brought falling temperatures and almost everything that had thawed had refrozen.

She reached the circle drive and the big covered entryway that used to keep Oklahoma weather from train passengers. She looked up and up and up.

The building was just creepy-looking. That's all there was to it.

Not that she didn't love the tunnels under the building, but there was something about the stone exterior with its weird mixture of art deco and machine design that creeped her out.

Of course, some of her freaky feeling could have been because the sky was already starting to shift from black to gray with the coming dawn.

In retrospect, that should have stopped her. She should have turned around, gone back down the stairs, climbed into the car she'd borrowed from the school, and driven to the House of Night.

Instead, she'd stepped squarely into her fate.

She knew there were circular stairs inside the main part of the depot that led up to each tower room—she'd done lots of exploring during the weeks she'd lived there.

But no way was she going back inside that building and taking a chance that some random red fledgling wouldn't be tucked into bed and would see her—and question her—and find out the truth.

Plan B led her to a tree that at one time had obviously been decorative, but had long since overgrown its concrete circle so that its roots had broken through the ground below in the parking lot, exposing lots of frozen earth and allowing it to grow taller than it should have.

Without its leaves, Alena didn't have a clue what kind of tree it was, other than the kind that was tall enough that its branches brushed the roof of the depot, near the first of the two towers that faced out from the roof on the front side of the building, and that was tall enough for her.

Moving quickly, Alena went over to the tree and jumped to grab the branch closest to her head. She scrambled up the slick, bare bough, shimmying along it until she got to the main part of the tree.

From there she made her way up and up with some difficutly, silently thanking Stevie Rae for teaching her how to climb and Nyx for her red vampyre enhanced strength.

When she was as high up as she could go, Alena gathered herself and then jumped onto the roof of the building. She didn't waste time looking in the first of the towers.

Pig boy had said Rephaim was in the one farthest from the tree. She jogged across the roof to the other end of the building and then climbed the short distance up so she could look down into the circular space.

He was there. Crumpled in the corner of the tower, Rephaim lay unmoving and bleeding.

Without hesitation, Alena threw her legs over the stone ridge and then dropped the four feet or so into the room.

He'd been curled up in a ball, his good arm cradling his bad one in its dirty sling. Down the outside of his arm she could see that someone had slashed his skin, which is obviously where Kurtis had fed from him, though he hadn't bothered to close the cut, and the odd, off smell of his inhuman blood filled the little chamber.

The bandage that had immobilized his wing had come loose and it was a torn pile of bloody towels half draping his body. His eyes were closed.

"Rephaim, hey, can you hear me?"

At the sound of her voice his eyes instantly opened. "No!" he said, struggling to sit up. "Get out of here. They're going to trap—"

Then there had been a terrible pain in the back of her head, and she remembered falling into blackness.

"Alena, you have to wake up. You have to move."

She finally felt the hand that was shaking her shoulder and recognized Rephaim's voice. Carefully she opened her eyes, and the world didn't pitch and roll, though she could feel her heartbeat throbbing in her head.

"Rephaim," she rasped. "What happened?"

"They used me to trap you," he said.

"You wanted to trap me?" Her nausea was a little better, but Alena's mind felt like it was working in slow motion.

"No. What I wanted was to be left alone to heal and make my way back to my father. They gave me no choice." He stood up, moving stiffly, bent at the waist because of the metal grate that made a low, false ceiling.

"Move. You have little time. The sun is already rising."

Alena looked up at the sky and saw the soft pastels of pre-dawn that she used to think were so pretty.

Now the lightening sky filled her with absolute terror. "Oh, Goddess! Help me get up."

Rephaim grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet, where she stood unsteadily beside him, bent like he was.

Drawing a deep breath, she raised her hands, gripped the cold metal of the grate, and pushed. It rattled a little, but didn't really move.

"How is it stuck up there?" she asked.

"Chained. They hooked chains through the edges of the metal and then padlocked them to anything on the roof that couldn't be pulled up."

Alena pushed against the grate again. Again it rattled, but held firm. She was trapped up on a roof and the sun was rising!

Gathering all her strength, she pushed and pulled, gripping the metal and trying to slide it to one side so that maybe she could crawl through. With each second the sky got brighter. Alena's skin shivered like a horse trying to twitch off a fly.

"Break the metal," Rephaim said urgently. "Your strength can do it."

She gave gasping breaths as she continued to struggle impotently against the caging metal. "I'm just not strong enough." She looked from the sky to his scarlet eyes.

"You should probably stand back away from me. I'm gonna burn, and I don't know how big the flames will be, but it could get pretty hot in here."

She watched Rephaim move away and, with a growing sense of hopelessness, went back to struggling with the immovable metal.

Her fingers were starting to sizzle and Alena was biting her lip to keep from screaming and screaming and screaming . . .

"Over here. The metal is rusted and thinner, weaker."

Alena pulled her hands down, automatically clutching them under her armpits and, bent backed, rushed to him.

She saw the rusted metal and grabbed ahold of it with both hands, and then pulled with all her might.

It gave a little, but her hands had started to smoke, as had her wrists.

"Oh, Goddess!" she gasped. "I'm not gonna make it. Get back, Rephaim, I'm already startin' to—"

Instead of running from her, he moved as close to her as he could get, spreading his good wing so that it provided some shade.

Then he raised his uninjured arm and took hold of the rusted grate. "Concentrate. Do not think of the sun and the sky. Pull with me. Now!"

In the shadow of his wing, Alena grabbed the grate on either side of his hand. She closed her eyes and ignored the burning of her fingers and the sensitivity of her skin that was screaming at her to run!

Run anywhere, just get out of the sun! Instead she thought about the earth, cool and dark, waiting underneath her like a loving mama.

Alena pulled.

With a metallic snap the grate broke, leaving an opening just big enough for one person at a time to slip out of.

Rephaim stepped back. "Go!" he said. "Quickly."

The instant Alena was no longer covered by his wing, her body flushed and, literally, began to smoke.

Instinctively, she dropped to the floor and curled into a ball, trying to shield her face with her arms.

"I can't!" she cried, frozen with pain and panic. "I'll burn up."

"You will burn if you stay here," he said.

Then he pulled himself up through the opening and was gone. He'd left her. Alena knew he was right.

She had to get out of there, but she couldn't push through the paralyzing fear. The pain was too much.

It was like her blood was boiling in her body. Just when she thought she couldn't bear it any longer, a small, cool shadow fell on her.

"Take my hand!"

Squinting against the cruel sun, Alena looked up. Rephaim was there, crouched on the grate, his good wing spread above her, blocking as much of the sun as possible, his uninjured arm reaching for her.

"Now, Alena! Do it!"

She followed his voice and the coolness of his dark wing and grabbed his hand. He couldn't pull her up by himself. She was too heavy and he only had one arm. So she thrust out her other hand, took hold of the metal, and chinned herself up.

"Come to me. I will shield you." Rephaim opened his wing.

Without any hesitation Alena stepped into his embrace, burying her head in the feathers of his chest, and wrapping her arms around him. He enfolded her with his wing and lifted her.

Then he was running, lurching, and limping, but running across the roof top. The backs of Alena's arms were exposed, as was some of her neck and shoulders, and as he ran she burned.

With a detached, out-of-body feeling she wondered what that terrible noise was that rang in her ears, and then she realized it was her voice.

She was screaming her pain and terror and anger.

At the edge of the roof he yelled, "Hold on. I'm jumping to the tree." The Raven Mocker leaped. His body tumbled, spiraling because of his lack of balance, and they crashed into the tree.

Adrenaline helped Alena keep her hold on him and, feeling thankful his body was so light, she lifted him, putting herself between Rephaim and the tree. With the bark to her back she told him, "Try to hold on to the tree while I slide us down."

Then they were falling again as the rough bark ripped Alena's already blistered and bleeding back.

She closed her eyes and prayed for Nyx's help

"Nyx! Please! I need your help! I'm dying! Please let the open and shield me!"

There was a great ripping sound and the ground at the base of the tree broke open just in time for Alena and Rephaim to slip within a cool, dark pouch in the earth.


	14. Alena 14

The earth swallowed her, and for a moment it seemed like everything would be okay.

The cool darkness was a relief for her burned skin, and she moaned softly.

"Alena?Alena?"

It wasn't until he spoke that she realized she was still locked in Rephaim's arms. She unwrapped herself from him and moved away, only to cry out in pain as her back touched the earthen wall of the ground her element had opened to shield her, and then closed again.

"Are you well? I-I cannot see you," Rephaim said.

"I'm okay. I think." Her voice surprised her. It sounded so weak, so outside the norm that it was her first hint that even though she'd escaped the sun, she might not have escaped its effects.

"I cannot see anything," he said.

"It's because the earth sealed itself over us to shield me from the sun."

"We're trapped here?" His voice wasn't panicky, but it wasn't exactly calm either.

"No, I can ask Nyx to get us out," she explained. Then, on second thought, she added, "And, well, the earth over us isn't very deep. If I drop dead you could dig out pretty easily. How are you? That wing must really hurt."

"Do you feel as if you might die?" he asked, ignoring her question about his wing.

"I don't think so. I don't know. I feel kinda funny."

"Funny? Explain that."

"Like I'm not really attached to my body."

"Does your body hurt?"

Alena thought about it, and was surprised by what she discovered. "No. Actually, I don't hurt at all."

It was weird, though, that her voice kept getting weaker and weaker.

Suddenly his hand was touching her face, sliding down to her neck and arm and—

"Ouch! You're hurting me."

"You're burned badly. I can feel it. You need help."

"Can't leave here or I'll finish burning up," she said, wondering why the earth seemed to be spinning around beneath her.

"What can I do to help you?"

"Well, you can get a big tarp and put it over me while you take me to the blood bank downtown. That sounds really good right now." Alena lay there, thinking she'd never been so thirsty in her life.

She wondered, with a detached sense of curiosity, if she was really going to die. It seemed a shame, after all that Rephaim had gone through to help her.

"Blood is what you need?"

"Blood is all I need. It's what makes me tick, which is more than kinda gross, but still. It's the truth. Cross my heart and hope to die." She giggled a little hysterically, and then sobered. "Wait, that's not really very funny."

"If you don't get blood, you'll die?"

"I think I might," she said, finding it hard to care too much.

"Then if blood will heal you, take mine. I owe you a life. That's why I saved you on the roof, but if you die here, you die without my debt being repaid. So if you need blood, take mine," he repeated.

"But you don't smell right," she blurted.

From the darkness he sounded irritated and offended. "That is what the red fledglings said, too. My blood does not smell right to you because I'm not meant to be one of your prey. I am the son of an immortal. I'm not your victim."

"Hey, I don't have victims." she protested weakly.

"The truth still holds. I smell different to you because I _am _different. I was not created to be your lunch."

"I never said you were." She meant her words to come out sounding snappy and kinda defensive.

Instead her voice was faint, and her head felt strangely huge, like it was going to pop off her neck at any second and float up through the ground and into the clouds like a giant birthday balloon.

"Right-smelling or not, it's blood. I owe you a life. So you will drink, and you will live."

Alena cried out as Rephaim's hand found her again and he pulled her against his body. She felt the skin of her burned arms and shoulders rip off and mix with the earth. Then she was resting on the softness of his feathers.

She sighed deeply. It wouldn't be so bad to die here in the earth, in a nest of feathers. As long as she didn't move, it didn't even hurt much.

She felt Rephaim move, though. And realized he'd sliced his beak across the gash that Kurtis had made in his bicep.

It had stopped bleeding, but this new laceration immediately began to weep, filling their little pocket in the earth with the thick scarlet scent of his immortal blood.

Then he shifted again and suddenly his bleeding arm was pressed against her lips.

"Drink," he said harshly. "Help me rid myself of this debt."

She drank, automatically at first. His blood had, after all, been stinky. It'd smelled wrong, wrong, wrong.

Then it touched her tongue. Its taste was like nothing Alena could have imagined. It wasn't like the scent of him; it wasn't anything remotely like the scent of him. Instead it was an incredible surprise, filling her mouth and her soul with its rich complexity, its absolute difference from anything she'd ever experienced.

She heard him hiss, and the hand that had been on the back of her neck guiding her to his arm, tightened its grip on her.

Alena moaned.

Drinking from the Raven Mocker couldn't be a sexual experience, but it wasn't exactly _not _a sexual experience, either.

Alena had the fleeting thought that she wished she'd had some kind of experience with guys—other than making out with Montoya in the dark—'cause she didn't know what to think of all the stuff that was going through her mind and surging through her body.

It felt good, all hot and tingly and powerful, but nothing like Montoya had made her feel.

She liked it, though. And there, for that heartbeat of a moment, Alena forgot that Rephaim was a mixture of immortal and beast, created from violence and lust.

For that instant, she only knew the pleasure of his touch and the strength of his blood.

That was Alena, the second red vampyre High of Nyx, Imprinted with Rephaim, the favorite son of a fallen immortal.

That was also when she broke his grip on her head and pulled away from him. Neither of them said anything.

The silence of their small, earthen room was filled only by the sounds of both of them gasping for breath.

"Nyx, please, sorry to bother you but I need you again," Stevie Rae spoke into the darkness. Her voice sounded normal again. Her body hurt. She could feel her burns and the rawness of her skin, but Rephaim's blood had allowed her to begin to heal, and she understood all too well that she had been on the verge of dying.

Nyx made earth come to her, filling their space with the scents of a springtime meadow.

Alena pointed up, to a spot as far from herself as she could get. "Nyx, if you can, please let earth open just a crack over there—enough to let in light, but not enough to burn me."

Nyx helped. The ground above them shivered, dirt raining down as it split, letting in a tiny crack of daylight.

Alena's eyes adapted almost instantly, so she watched Rephaim blink in surprise as he tried to accustom himself to the sudden light.

He was sitting close to her. He looked terrible—bloody and bruised. His broken wing had come completely loose from the towel bandage she'd fashioned for him and it lay helplessly down his back. She knew the instant his vision had cleared.

Those human eyes, tinged with scarlet, found hers.

"Your wing's messed up again," she said.

He grunted, and she figured that was his guy word for agreeing with her.

"I better fix it again." She started to get up and his lifted hand stopped her.

"You shouldn't move. You should just rest and regain your strength."

"No, it's okay. I'm not one hundred percent, but I'm lots better." She hesitated and then added, "Can't you tell that?"

"Why would I—" The Raven Mocker's words ended abruptly. Alena watched his eyes widen with understanding. "How is it possible?" he said.

"I dunno," she said, getting up and beginning to unwind the messed-up strips of towels from around him. "I wouldn't think it'd be possible. But, well, here we are, and here _it _is."

"An Imprint," he said.

"Between us," she said.

Then neither of them said anything.

When she had the tangled mess of bandages straightened out, she told him, "Okay, I'm gonna set your wing back like I had it and re-wrap it. It's gonna hurt again. Sorry. Of course this time it'll hurt me, too."

"Truly?" he said.

"Yeah, well, I kinda know how these Imprint things work, being as I've seen it in action. Now I'm Imprinted to you, so it stands to reason that I'll be knowing stuff about you, which includes when you're in excruciating pain."

" Now, hold still and let me get this over with." Rephaim stayed perfectly still while Alena reset his

wing. It was she who did the gasping and made the painful exclamations. She who was white and shaky after it was all over.

"Damn, wings hurt. Bad."

Rephaim stared at her, shaking his head. "You did feel it, didn't you?"

"Sadly, yes . It was almost worse than almost dying." She met his eyes. "Is it going to get well?"

"It will heal."

"But?" She felt the word there at the end of his sentence.

"But I do not believe I will ever fly again."

Alena's gaze stayed steady on his. "That's bad, isn't it?"

"It is."

"Maybe it'll heal better than you think. If you came back to the House of Night with me, I could—"

"I cannot go there." He hadn't raised his voice, but the words had a sense of finality to them.

She tried again. "That's what I used to think, but I'm back there and they accept me. Well, some of them do."

"It wouldn't be like that for me, and you know it."

Alena looked down. Her shoulders slumped. "You killed Professor Anastasia. She was really nice. Her mate, Dragon, is lost without her."

"I did what I had to do for my father."

"And he deserted you," she said.

"I disappointed him."

"You almost died!"

"He is still my father," he said quietly.

"Rephaim, this Imprint. Does it feel like anything to you? Or is it just me who's had a change?"

"A change?"

"Well, yeah. I couldn't feel your pain before, and now I can. I can't tell what you're thinking, but I can sense things about you, like I think I'd know where you were and what was going on with you even if you were a long way away from me. It's weird, but it's definitely there. Is there anything at all different with you?"

He hesitated a long time before answering her, and when he did speak he sounded confused. "I feel protective of you."

"Well." Alena smiled. "You did protect me from dying up there."

"That was payment of a debt. This is more."

"Like what?"

"Like it makes me sick to think about how close you came to dying," he admitted, his voice defensive and annoyed.

"Is that all?"

"No. Yes. I do not know! I'm not used to this." He thumped his chest with his fist.

"This what?"

"This _feeling _I have for you. I don't know what to call it."

"Maybe we could call it friendship?"

"Impossible."

Alena grinned. "Well, Stevie Rae was telling me that stuff we once thought was impossible might not be so black-and-white."

"Not black-and-white, but good and evil. You and I are on two opposing sides in the balance of good versus evil."

"I don't think that's set in stone," she said.

"I am still my father's son," he said.

"Well, I wonder where that leaves us?"

Before he could answer her, the sounds of frantic shouting drifted down through the small crack in the earth.

"Alena! Are you here?"

"That's Lenobia," Alena said.

"Alena!" Another voice joined the Horse Mistress's.

"Oh, crap! That's Erik. He knows his way to the tunnels. If they get down there, all hell's gonna break loose."

"Will they shield you from the sunlight?"

"Well, yeah, I'd imagine so. They don't want me to burn up."

"Then call them to you. You should go with them," he said.

Alena concentrated and asked for Nyx help once more, waved her hand, and the small crack in the far end of the ceiling of their hiding place trembled and then got bigger.

Alena pressed herself back against the raw ground. Then she cupped her hands around her mouth and called:

"Lenobia! Erik! I'm down here!"

Quickly she leaned over, laying her palms against the earth on either side of Rephaim. "Nyx, hide him for me. Don't let him be discovered."

The dirt behind him rippled backward, leaving a Raven Mocker– sized cubbyhole, into which he reluctantly crawled.

"Alena?" Lenobia's voice came from above them near the crack.

"Yeah, I'm here, but I can't come out unless you can cover this part of the ground with a tent."

"We'll take care of that. You just stay down there where you're safe."

"Are you okay? Do we need to get something for you?" Erik's voice asked.

"No! I'm fine. Just get something to cover me from the sun."

"No problem. We'll be back in a sec," Erik said.

"I'm not going anywhere," she called back to them. Then she turned to Rephaim. "What about you?"

"I stay here, hidden in this corner. If you don't tell them I'm here, they will not know."

She shook her head. "I don't mean now. Of course I'm not telling them you're down here. But where are you gonna go?"

"Not back into those tunnels," he said.

"Yeah, that's definitely not a good idea. Okay, let me think. Once Lenobia and Erik are out of here, you can get away real easy right now. The red fledglings can't come out after you in the daytime, and it's super-early, so most people will still be asleep."

She considered his options. She wanted to keep him close, and not just because she figured she'd have to help him get food, and those bandages were nasty dirty, so his wounds would definitely need doctoring.

Alena was also aware that she needed to keep a check on him. He would get better, and become stronger, like he used to be. Then what would he do?

And there was the little fact that she'd Imprinted with him, which meant it was uncomfortable to think about him being very far from her.

"Alena, I can hear them returning," Rephaim said. "Where should I go?"

"Ah, crap . . . um . . . well, you need someplace close but hidable for you. And it wouldn't hurt if it had a creepy reputation so people would stay out, or at least wouldn't think it wasn't unusual if you went bump in the night."

Then her eyes widened and she grinned at him. "I got it! After Halloween, Stevie Rae and the gang and I went on a ghost tour of Tulsa. It was in one of those cool old-time trolleys."

"Alena! You still okay down there?" Erik's voice called from above.

"Yeah, fine," she yelled back.

"We're putting up something like a tent over this crack and around the tree. Will that be good enough to get you out?"

"You just get a space covered for me. I can take care of the getting-out part."

"Okay, I'll let you know when we're ready," he said.

Alena turned back to Rephaim. "So here's my point. The last trolley stop was at the Gilcrease Museum. It's in north Tulsa. There's a big old house smack in the middle of it that's totally unoccupied. They keep talking about renovating it, but they haven't got the money together. You can hide there."

"Won't people see me?"

"Heck no! Not if you stay in the house during the day. It's a mess—all boarded up and locked so tourists don't stumble into it. And here's the best part—it's super-haunted! That's why it was on the ghost tour. Apparently Mr. Gilcrease, his second wife, and even ghost kids hang out there regularly, so if someone sees or hears something weird—meaning you—they'll freak and think it's just more ghost stuff."

"Spirits of the dead."

Alena raised her brows. "You're not scared of them, are you?"

"No. I understand them too well. I existed as a spirit for centuries."

"Dang, I'm sorry. I forgot about—"

"Okay, Alena! We're ready for you up here," Lenobia called.

"'Kay, I'll be right up. Stand back, though, so you don't fall down here when I make the crack bigger." She stood up and moved closer to the crack in the ground above them, which was no longer letting in much light.

"I'll get them out of here right away. Then you get yourself over the railroad tracks. You'll see highway 244 east—follow it. It turns into OK 51. Go north until you see the Gilcrease Museum exit sign—it's on your right. Then just follow that road and you'll run smack into the museum. The hardest part will be over then, 'cause there're lots of trees and stuff to hide in on that road. It's the highway you're gonna have trouble with. Just move as fast as you can and stay off to the side and in the ditch. If you hunker down anyone who gets a glimpse of you might think you're just a giant bird."

Rephaim made a disgusted sound, which Alena ignored. "The house is in the middle of the museum grounds. Hide there and I'll bring food and stuff to you tomorrow night."

He hesitated and then said, "It isn't wise for you to see me again."

"None of this has been very smart, if you get right down to it," she said.

"Then I will probably see you tomorrow, as neither of us seems able to be smart where the other is concerned."

"Well, then, bye until tomorrow."

"Stay safe," he said. "If you don't, I—I believe I would, perhaps, feel your loss." He hesitated over the words, like he didn't quite know how to say them.

"Yeah, same right back at ya," she said. Before she raised her arms to open the earth, she added,

"Thank you for saving my life.

"Your debt is totally paid in full."

"Odd how it doesn't feel like I'm free of it," he said softly.

"Yeah," said Alena. "I know what you mean."

And then, while Rephaim crouched within the earth, Nyx opened the ceiling of their chamber, and let

Lenobia and Erik pull her free.

No one thought to look behind her. No one suspected. And no one saw a creature, half raven, half man, limping to the Gilcrease Museum to hide himself among the spirits of the past.


	15. Rephaim 15

The sonorous drum was like the heartbeat of an immortal: never-ending, engulfing, overwhelming. It echoed through Rephaim's soul in time with the pounding of his blood. Then, to the beat of the drum, the ancient words took form.

They wrapped around his body so that even as he slept, his pulse allied itself in harmony with the ageless melody. In his dream, the women's voices sang:

_Ancient one sleeping, waiting to arise _

_When earth's power bleeds sacred red _

_The mark strikes true; Queen Tsi Sgili will devise _

_He shall be washed from his entombing bed _

The song was seductive, and like a labyrinth, it circled on and on.

_Through the hand of the dead he is free _

_Terrible beauty, monstrous sight _

_Ruled again they shall be _

_Women shall kneel to his dark might _

The music was a whispered enticement. A promise. A blessing. A curse. The memory of what it foretold made Rephaim's sleeping body restless. He twitched and, like an abandoned child, murmured a one-word question: "Father?"

The melody concluded with the rhyme Rephaim had memorized centuries ago:

_Kalona‟s song sounds sweet _

_As we slaughter with cold heat _

". . . slaughter with cold heat.‖ Even sleeping, Rephaim responded to the words. He didn't awaken, but his heartbeat increased—his hands curled into fists—his body tensed.

On the cusp between awake and asleep, the drumbeat stuttered to a halt, and the soft voices of women were replaced by one that was deep and all too familiar.

"_Traitor . . . coward . . . betrayer . . . liar!" _The male voice was a condemnation. With its litany of anger, it invaded Rephaim's dream and jolted him fully into the waking world.

"Father!' Rephaim surged upright, throwing off the old papers and scraps of cardboard he'd used to create a nest around him. "Father, are you here?"

A shimmer of movement caught at the corner of his vision, and he jerked forward, jarring his broken wing as he peered from the depths of the dark, cedar-paneled closet.

"Father?"

His heart knew Kalona wasn't there even before the vapor of light and motion took form to reveal the child.

"_What are you?" _

Rephaim focused his burning gaze on the girl. "Begone, apparition."

Instead of fading as she should have, the child narrowed her eyes to study him, appearing intrigued.

"_You're not a bird, but you have wings. And you're not a boy, but you have arms and legs. And your eyes are like a boy's, too, only they're red. So, what are you?" _

Rephaim felt a surge of anger. With a flash of movement that caused white-hot shards of pain to radiate through his body, he leaped from the closet, landing just a few feet before the ghost—predatory, dangerous, and defensive.

"I am a nightmare given life, spirit! Go away and leave me in peace before you learn that there are things far worse than death to fear."

At his abrupt movement, the child ghost had taken one small step backward, so that now her shoulder brushed against the low windowpane.

But there she halted, still watching him with a curious, intelligent gaze.

"_You cried out for your father in your sleep. I heard you. You can't fool me. I'm smart like that, and I remember things. Plus, you don't scare me because you're really just hurt and alone." _

Then the ghost of the girl child crossed her arms petulantly over her thin chest, tossed back her long blond hair, and disappeared, leaving Rephaim just as she had named him, hurt and alone.

His fisted hands loosened. His heartbeat quieted. Rephaim stumbled heavily back to his makeshift nest and rested his head against the closet wall behind him.

"Pathetic," he murmured aloud. "The favorite son of an ancient immortal reduced to hiding in refuse and talking to the ghost of a human child."

He tried to laugh but failed. The echo of the music from his dream, from his past, was still too loud in the air around him. As was the other voice—the one he could have sworn was that of his father.

He couldn't sit anymore. Ignoring the pain in his arm and the sick agony that was his wing, Rephaim stood. He hated the weakness that pervaded his body.

How long had he been here, wounded, exhausted from the flight from the depot, and curled into this box in a wall? He couldn't remember. Had one day passed? Two?

_Where was she? She'd said she would come to him in the night. And yet here he was where Alena had sent him. It was night, and she hadn't come._

With a sound of self-loathing, he left the closet and his nest, stalking past the windowsill in front of which the girl child had materialized to a door that led to a rooftop balcony.

Instinct had driven him up to the second floor of the abandoned mansion, just after dawn, when he'd arrived. At the end of even his great reservoir of strength, he'd thought only of safety and sleep.

But now he was all too awake.

He stared out at the empty museum grounds. The ice that had been falling for days from the sky had stopped, leaving the huge trees that surrounded the rolling hills on which sat the Gilcrease Museum and its abandoned mansion with bent and ruined branches.

Rephaim's night vision was good, but he could detect no movement at all outside. The homes that filled the area between the museum and downtown Tulsa were almost as dark as they had been in his post dawn journey.

Small lights dotted the landscape—not the great, blazing electricity that Rephaim had come to expect from a modern city. They were only flickering – nothing compared to the majesty of the power this world could evoke.

There was, of course, no mystery to what had happened. The lines that carried power to the homes of modern humans had been snapped just as surely as had the ice-burdened boughs of the trees. Rephaim knew that was good for him.

Except for the fallen branches and other debris left on the roadways, the streets appeared mostly passable. Had the great electric machine not been broken, people would have flooded these grounds as daily human life resumed.

The lack of power keeps humans away,‖ he muttered to himself. ―But what is keeping _her _away?‖

With a sound of pure frustration, Rephaim wrenched open the dilapidated door, automatically seeking open sky as balm to his nerves.

The air was cool, and thick with dampness. Low around the winter grass, fog hung in wavy sheets, as if the earth was trying to shroud herself from his eyes.

His gaze lifted, and Rephaim drew a long, shuddering breath. He inhaled the sky. It seemed unnaturally bright in comparison to the darkened city.

Stars beckoned him, as did the sharp crescent of a waning moon.

Everything within Rephaim craved the sky. He wanted it under his wings, passing through his dark, feathered body, caressing him with the touch of the mother he'd never known.

His uninjured wing extended itself, stretching more than a grown man's body length beside him. His other wing quivered, and the night air Rephaim had breathed in burst from him in an agonized moan.

_Broken! _The word seared through his mind.

No. That is not a certainty.‖ Rephaim spoke aloud. He shook his head, trying to clear away the unusual weariness that was making him feel increasingly helpless—increasingly damaged.

"Concentrate!" Rephaim admonished himself. "It's time I found Father." He still wasn't well, but Rephaim's mind, though weary, was clearer than it had been since his fall.

He should be able to detect some trace of his father. No matter how much distance or time separated them, they were tied by blood and spirit and especially by the gift of immortality that had been Rephaim's birthright.

Rephaim looked up into the sky, thinking of the currents of air on which he was so used to gliding. He drew a deep breath, lifted his uninjured arm, and stretched forth his hand, trying to touch those elusive currents and the vestiges of dark Otherworld magick that languished there.

"Bring me some sense of him!" He made his plea urgently to the night.

For a moment he believed he felt a flicker of response, far, far off to the east. And then weariness was all he could feel.

"Why can I not sense you, Father?" Frustrated and unusually exhausted, he let his hand drop limply to his side.

_Unusual weariness . . . _

"By all the gods!" Rephaim suddenly realized what had drained his strength and left him a broken shell of himself.

He knew what was keeping him from sensing the path his father had taken. "She did this." His voice was hard. His eyes blazed crimson.

Yes, he'd been terribly wounded; but as the son of an immortal, his body should have already begun its repair process.

He'd slept—twice since the Warrior had shot him from the sky. His mind had cleared. Sleep should have continued to revive him.

Even if, as he suspected, his wing was permanently damaged, the rest of his body should be noticeably better. His powers should have returned to him.

But the daughter of the Red One had drunk of his blood, _Imprinted with him_. And in doing so, she had disturbed the balance of immortal power within him.

Anger rose to meet the frustration already there.

She'd used him and then abandoned him.

_Just like Father had_

"No!" he corrected himself immediately.

His father had been driven away by the fledgling High Priestess. He would return when he was able, and then Rephaim would be at his father's side once more.

It was the daughter of the Red One who had used him, then cast him aside.

Why did the very thought of it cause such a curious ache within him? Ignoring the feeling, he raised his face to the familiar sky.

He hadn't wanted this Imprint. He'd only saved her because he owed her a life, and he knew all too well that one of the true dangers of this world, as well as the next, was the power of an unpaid life debt.

Well, she had saved him—found him, hidden him, and then released him, but on the depot rooftop, he had returned the debt by helping her escape from certain death.

His life debt to her was now paid. Rephaim was the son of an immortal, not a weak human man. He had little doubt he could break this Imprint—this ridiculous byproduct of saving her life.

He would use what was left of his strength to wish it away, and then he would truly begin to heal.

He breathed in the night again. Ignoring the weakness in his body, Rephaim focused the strength of his will.

"I call upon the power of the spirit of ancient immortals, which is mine by birthright to command, to break"

The wave of despair crashed over him, and Rephaim staggered against the balcony's railing.

The sadness radiated throughout his body with such force that it drove him to his knees. There he remained, gasping with pain and shock.

_What is happening to me? _

Next, an odd, alien fear filled him, and Rephaim began to understand.

"These are not my feelings," he told himself, trying to find his own center within the maelstrom of distress. "These are _her _feelings."

Rephaim gasped as hopelessness followed fear. Steeling himself against the continued onslaught, he struggled to stand, fighting the waves of Stevie Rae's emotions.

Resolutely, he forced himself to refocus through the onslaught and the weariness that tugged relentlessly at him—to touch the place of power that lay locked and domant for most of humanity— the place which his blood held the key

Rephaim began the invocation anew. This time with an altogether different intent.

Later he would tell himself that his response had been automatic—that he'd been acting under the influence of their Imprint; it had simply been more powerful than he had expected.

It was the damnable Imprint that had caused him to believe that the surest, quickest way to end the horrible wash of emotions from the daughter of the Red One was to draw her to him and thus remove her from whatever was causing her pain.

It couldn't be that he cared that she was in pain. It could never be that.

"I call upon the power of the spirit of ancient immortals, which is mine by birthright to command." Rephaim spoke quickly. Ignoring the pain in his battered body, he pulled energy to him from the deepest shadows of the night, and then channeled that power through him, charging it with immortality.

The air around him glistened as it became stained with a dark scarlet radiance.  
>Through the immortal might of my father, Kalona, who seeded my blood and spirit with power, I send you to my…"<p>

There his words broke off. His? She wasn't _his _anything. She was . . . she was . . . "She is the daughter of the Red One! Daughter of the Vampyre High Priestess to those who are lost," he finally blurted.

"She is attached to me through blood Imprint and through life debt. Go to her. Strengthen her. Draw her to me. By the immortal part of my being, I command it so!" The red mist scattered off instantly, flying to the south.

Back the way he'd come. Back to find her. Rephaim turned his gaze to look after it. And then he waited.


	16. Alena 16

Alena woke up feeling like a big pile of shit.

She'd Imprinted with Rephaim.

She'd almost burned up on that rooftop.

For a second she remembered the excellent season two _True Blood _episode where Goderick had burned his own self up on a fictional roof.

Alena snorted a laugh.

"It looked way easier on TV."

"What did?"

"Holy shit, Montoya! You scared the petal right off of me."

Alena clutched at the white, hospital-like sheet that covered her.

"What in the hell are you doing here?"

Montoya frowned. ―

"Mujer, settle down. I came up here a little after dusk to check on you, and Lenobia told me it'd be okay to sit here for a while in case you woke up. You're awful jumpy."

"I almost _died_. I think I have the right to be a little jumpy."

Montoya looked instantly contrite. He scooted the little side chair closer and took her hand. "Sorry. You're right. Sorry. I was real scared when Stevie Rae told everyone what had happened."

"What did Stevie Rae say?"

His warm brown eyes hardened. "That you almost burned up on that roof."

"Yeah, it was really stupid. I tripped and fell and hit my head." Alena had to look away from his gaze while she spoke. "When I woke up, I was almost toast."

"Yeah, bullshit."

"What?"

"Save that load of crap for Erik and Lenobia and the rest of 'em. Those assholes tried to kill you, didn't they?"

"Montoya, I don't know what you're talking about." She tried to take her hand from his, but he held tight.

"Hey" His voice softened and he touched her face, pulling her gaze back to his. "It's just me. You know you can tell me the truth, and I'll keep my mouth shut."

Alena blew out a long breath. "I don't want Stevie Rae or any of them to know, especially not any of the blue fledglings."

Dallas stared at her a long time before he spoke, "I won't say anything to anyone, but you gotta know I think you're making a big mistake. You can't keep protecting them. Neither can Stevie Rae."

"I'm not protecting them!" she protested. This time she held tight to Montoya safe, warm hand, trying through touch to get him to understand something she could never tell him.

"I just want to deal with this in my own way before I tell Stevie Rae. If everyone knows they tried to trap me up there, then it'll all be out of my hands.

_And what if Lenobia grabs Nicole and her group, and they tell her about Rephaim? _The sickening thought was a guilty whisper through Alena's mind.

"What are you gonna do about them? You can't just let them get away with this."

"I won't."

"Hey, what time is it? I think I'm starving"

Montoya's grin changed to laughter as he stood up. "Now that sounds like my mujer!"

He kissed her forehead and then turned to the mini-fridge that was tucked within the metallic shelving across the room.

"Lenobia told me there's baggies of blood in here. She said as fast as you've been healing and as deep as you've been sleeping, you'd probably wake up hungry"

While he went for the blood baggies, Alena sat up and gingerly peeked down the back of her generic hospital gown, wincing a little at how stiff the movement made her feel.

She expected the worst. Seriously, her back had been like nasty burned hamburger when Lenobia and Erik had pulled her from the hole. Pulled her from Rephaim.

_Don't think about him now. Just focus on_

"Oh my good_ness_," Alena whispered in awe as she stared at what she could see of her back. It wasn't hamburgered anymore. It was smooth. Bright pink, as if she'd gotten sunburned, but smooth and new-looking, like baby skin.

"That's amazing." Montoya's voice was hushed. "A real miracle."

Alena looked up at him. Their eyes met and held.

"You scared me mujer," he said. "Don't do that again, 'kay?"

"I'll try my best not to," she said softly.

Montoya leaned forward and carefully, with just the tips of his fingers, touched the fresh pink skin at the back of her shoulder. "Does it still hurt?"

"Not really. I'm just kinda stiff."

"Amazing," he repeated. "I mean, I know Lenobia said you'd been healing while you were sleepin', but you were hurt real bad, and I just didn't expect anything like…"

"How long have I been asleep?" she cut him off, trying to imagine the consequences of Montoya's telling her she'd been out for days and days.

_What would Rephaim think if she didn't show up? Worse, what would he do?_

"It's just been one day."

Relief flooded her. "One day? Really?"

"Yeah, well, dusk was a couple hours ago, so you've technically been sleepin' longer than one day. They brought you back here yesterday after sunrise. It was pretty dramatic. Erik drove the Hummer right across the grounds, knocked down a fence, and floored it straight into Lenobia's barn. Then we all scrambled like crazy to carry you through the school up here to the infirmary"

"Yeah, I talked to Stevie Rae in the Hummer on the way back here, and I was feeling almost okay, but then it was like someone turned out the lights on me. I think I passed out."

"I know ya did."

"Well, that's a dang shame." She let herself smile. ―I woulda liked seeing all that drama.‖

"Good thing I didn't die."

"Well, I'm glad to hear it." Montoya bent, cupped her chin in his hand, and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

With a strange, automatic reaction, Alena jerked away from him.

"Uh, how about that blood baggie?"She said quickly.

"Oh, yeah." He shrugged off her rejection, but his cheeks were unnaturally pink when he handed her the bag. "Sorry, I wasn't thinkin'. I know you're hurt, and ya don't feel like, er, well, you know..." His voice trailed off, and he looked super uncomfortable.

Alena knew she should say something. After all, she and Montoya did have a _thing _together. He was sweet and smart, and he proved he understood her by standing there, looking all sorry, and kinda lowering his head in an adorable way that made him look like a little boy.

And he was cute—tall and lean, with just the right amount of muscles and thick dark hair.

She actually liked kissing him. Or she used to.

Didn't she still?

An unfamiliar sense of unease kept her from finding the words that would make him feel better, so

instead of speaking, Alena took the baggie from him, tore open the corner, and upended it, letting the blood drain down the back of her throat and expand like a mega shot of Red Bull from her stomach to energize the rest of her body.

She didn't want to, but somewhere deep inside her, Alena weighed the difference between how this normal, mortal, ordinary blood made her feel—and how Rephaim's blood had been like a lightning strike of energy and heat.

Her hand shook only a little when she wiped her mouth and finally looked up at Montoya.

"That better?" he asked, looking unfazed by their strange exchange and like his familiar, sweet self again.

"Could I have one more?"

He smiled and held another baggie out to her. "Already ahead of you, mujer."

"Thanks, Montoya" She paused before slurping down the second one. "We okay?"

"Yep," he said. "If you're okay, we're okay."

"Well, this'll help." Alena was upending the baggie when Lenobia came in the room.

"Hey, Lenobia, check out Sleeping Beauty finally waking up," Montoya said.

Alena guzzled the last bloody drop and turned to the door, but the hello smile she'd already put on her face froze at her first glimpse of Lenobia.

The Mistress of Horses had been crying. A lot.

"Oh my goodness, what is it?" Alena was so shaken by seeing the usually strong professor in tears that her first reaction was to pat the bed next to her, inviting Lenobia to sit with her, just like her mama used to do when she'd hurt herself and come crying to be fixed.

Lenobia took several wooden steps into the room. She didn't sit on Alena's bed. She stood at the foot of it and drew a deep breath as if readying herself to do something really terrible.

"Do you want me to go?"Montoya asked hesitantly.

"No. Stay. She might need you." Lenobia's voice was rough and thick with tears. She met Alena's eyes. "It's Zoey. Something's happened."

A jolt of fear zapped Alena in the gut, and the words burst from her before she could stop them.

"She's fine! Stevie Rae talked to her, remember? That was just yesterday."

"Erce, my friend who serves as assistant to the High Council, has been trying to contact me for hours. I'd foolishly left my phone in the Hummer, so I didn't speak to her until just now. Kalona killed Heath."

"Shit!" Montoya gasped.

Stevie Rae ignored him and stared at Lenobia. _Rephaim dad had killed Heath! _The sick fear in her gut was getting worse and worse by the second.

"Zoey's not dead, but she saw Kalona kill Heath. She tried to stop him and couldn't. It shattered her, Alena." Tears had started to leak down Lenobia's porcelain cheeks.

"Shattered her? What does that mean?"

"It means her body still breathes, but her soul is gone. When a High Priestess's soul is shattered, it is only a matter of time before her body fades from this world, too"

"Fades? I don't know what you're talking about. Are you trying to tell me she's going to disappear?"

"No," Lenobia said raggedly. "She's going to die."

Alena's head started to shake back and forth, back and forth. "No. No. No! We just gotta get her here. She'll be fine then."

"Even if her body returns here, Zoey isn't coming back, Alena. You and Stevie Rae have to prepare yourselves for that!"

"I won't!" Alena yelled. "I can't!" Dallas, get me my clothes. I gotta get outta here. I gotta figure out a way to help Zoey with Stevie Rae. She didn't give up on Stevie Rae, and we're not giving up on her" 

"This isn't about you." Dragon Lankford spoke from the open doorway to the infirmary room. His strong face was drawn and haggard with the newness of the loss of his mate, but his voice was calm and sure.

"It's about the fact that Zoey faced a grief she could not bear. And I do understand something about grief. When it shatters a soul, the path to return to the body is broken, and without the infilling of spirit, our bodies die."

"No, please. This can't be right. This can't be happening," Alena told him.

"You have to find the strength to accept this loss. " Dragon said.

"We don't know where Kalona has fled, nor do we know Neferet's role in all of this," Lenobia said.

"What we do know is that Zoey's death would be an excellent time for them to strike against us," Dragon added.

_Zoey's death . . ._ The words echoed through Alena's mind, leaving behind shock and fear and despair.

"Your powers are vast. The swiftness of your recovery proves that," Lenobia said. "And we will need every power we can harness to meet the darkness I feel certain is going to descend upon us."

_I don't have any powers! Stevie Rae has power. I can only make shields while she can make earth move._

"Control your grief," Dragon said.

"I have—I have to think," Alena said. "Would you leave me alone for a while? I want to get dressed and think."

"Of course," Lenobia said. "We will be in the Council Chamber. Meet us there when you are ready." She and Dragon left the room silently, grief-stricken but resolute.

"Hey, are you okay?"Montoya moved to her, reaching out to take her hand

She only let him touch her for a moment before she squeezed his hand and withdrew. "I need my clothes."

"I found 'em there in that closet." Montoya jerked his head toward the cabinets on the opposite side of the room.

"Good, thanks," Alena said quickly. "You have to leave so I can get dressed."

"You didn't answer my question," he said, watching her closely.

"No. I'm not okay, and I'm not gonna be as long as they keep saying Zoey is gonna die. Stevie Rae needs me right now."

"But Stevie Rae heard about what happens when a soul leaves a body—the person dies," he said, obviously trying to say the harsh words gently.

"Not this time," Stevie Rae said. "Now get out so I can get dressed."

Montoya sighed.

"I'll be waiting outside."

"Fine. I won't take too long."

"Take your time, mujer," Montoya said softly. "I don't mind waiting."

But as soon as the door shut, Alena didn't jump up and throw on her clothes like she'd meant to.

Instead her memory was too busy flipping through her _Fledgling Handbook 101 _and stopping at a super-sad story about an ancient soul-shattered High Priestess.

Alena couldn't remember what had caused the priestess's soul to shatter—she didn't remember much about the story, actually—except that the High Priestess had died. No matter what anyone had tried to do to save her—the High Priestess had died.

"The High Priestess died," Alena whispered.

It wasn't fair! They'd all been through so much hard stuff, and now Zoey was just gonna die? She didn't want to believe it. She wanted to fight and scream and find a way to help Stevie Rae fix her BFF, but how could she?

Zoey was in Italy and she was in Tulsa.

This was just great. She couldn't even tell the truth about being Imprinted with the son of the creature who had caused this awful thing to happen.

Sadness swept over her.

She crumpled in on herself, hugged the pillow to her chest, and, twirling her honey colored hair around and around her finger like she used to do when she was little, began to weep.

The sobs wracked her, and she buried her face in the pillow so Montoya wouldn't hear her crying, losing herself to shock and fear and complete, overwhelming despair.

Just as she was giving in to the worst of it, the air around her stirred. Almost as if someone had cracked the window in the small room.

At first she ignored it, too lost in her tears to care about a stupid cold breeze. But it was insistent. It touched the fresh, pink skin of her exposed back in a cool caress that was surprisingly pleasant.

For a moment she relaxed, allowing herself to absorb comfort from the touch.

Touch? She'd told him to wait outside!

Alena's head shot up. Her lips were pulled back from her teeth in a snarl she meant to aim at Montoya.

No one was in the room.

She was alone. Absolutely alone.

Alena dropped her face in her hands. Was shock making her go totally batshit crazy? She didn't have time for crazy. She had to get up and get dressed.

She had to put one foot in front of the other and go out there and deal with the truth about what had happened to Zoey, and Kalona, and, eventually, Rephaim.

_Rephaim . . . _

His name echoed in the air, another cold caress against her skin, wrapping around her.

Not just touching her back but skimming down the length of her arms and swirling around her waist and over her legs.

And everywhere the coolness touched, it was like a little bit of her grief had been washed away. This time when she looked up she was more controlled in her reaction.

She wiped her eyes clear and stared down at her body.

The mist that surrounded her was made of tiny sparkling drops that were the exact color she'd come to recognize in his eyes.

"Rephaim." Against her will, she whispered his name.

_He calls you . . ._

"What the hell is going on?" Alena muttered, anger stirring through despair.

_Go to him . . . _

"Go to him?" she said, feeling increasingly pissed off. "His dad caused this."

_Go to him . . ._

Letting the tide of cool caress and red anger make her decision, Alena yanked on her clothes.

She would go to Rephaim but only because he might know something that she could use to help Zoey and Stevie Rae.

He was the son of a dangerous and powerful immortal. Obviously, he had abilities she didn't know about.

The red stuff that was floating around her was definitely from him, and it must be made of some kind of spirit.

"Fine," she said aloud to the mist. "I'll go to him."

The instant she spoke the words aloud, the red haze evaporated, leaving only a lingering coolness on her skin and a strange, otherworldly sense of calm.

_I'll go to him, and if he can't help me, then —Imprint or no Imprint—I'm going to have to kill him._


	17. Alena 17

"Alena, this isn't a good idea," Montoya said as he hurried to keep up with her.

"I'm not gonna be gone long, promise," she said, stopping as she got to the parking lot and looked around for the hummer. "Ha! There it is, and she always leaves the keys in it, 'cause the doors don't lock anyway."

Alena jogged up to the hummer, opened the creaky door, and gave a victory shout when she saw the keys dangling from the ignition.

"Seriously, I wish you'd come to the Council Chamber with me and tell Alena what you're up to, even if you won't tell me. Get her opinion about what's goin' on inside that head of yours, mujer."

Alena turned to Dallas. "Well, that's the problem. I don't know what I'm doing. And, Montoya, I wouldn't tell Alena stuff I wouldn't tell you first, you gotta know that by now."

Montoya rubbed a hand down his face. "I used to know that, but a lot's happened fast, and you're actin' weird."

She put her hand on his shoulder. "I just have a feelin' that there might be somethin' I can do to help Zoey and Alena, but I need to be out _here. _I need to think. I feel like I'm missing something.

"Can't you do that from here?"

Alena made herself smile at him. She hated lying to Montoya, but then again, she wasn't really lying.

She was really going to see if she could figure out a way to help Alena and Zoey, and she couldn't do that at the House of Night. "There're too many distractions here."

"Okay, look, I know I can't stop you from going, but I need you to promise me something, or I'm gonna make an ass outta myself by actually tryin' to stop you."

Her eyes widened, and this time she didn't have to force her smile. "You're gonna try to kick my butt, Montoya"

"Well, you and I both know it'd just be me _tryin‟_, but not succeeding, which is where the make an ass outta myself' part comes in."

Still grinning at him, she said, "What do you want me to promise?"

"That you won't go back to the depot right now. They almost killed you, and you look all recovered and stuff, but _they almost killed you_. Yesterday. So I need you to promise you're not going back down there to face them tonight."

"I promise," she said earnestly. "I won't go down there. I told you—I want to try to figure out how to help Zoey, I owe at least that much to her and Alena."

"Swear?"

"Swear"

He let loose a relieved sigh. "Good. Now what am I supposed to tell Alena about where you've gone?"

"Just what I told you that I'm trying to figure out something, and I can't do it here."

"All right. I'll tell 'em. She gonna be pissed."

"Yeah, well, I'll be back soon," she said, getting in the car. "And don't worry. I'll be careful." The engine had just turned over when Montoya rapped on the window. Suppressing an annoyed sigh, she cracked it.

"Almost forgot to tell ya—I overheard some of the kids talking while I was waitin' for you. It's all over the Internet that Zoey isn't the only shattered soul in Venice."

"What the heck does that mean?"

"Word is that Neferet dumped Kalona on the High Council—literally. His body is there, but his soul is gone."

"Thanks. I gotta go!"Without waiting for him to reply, Alena shoved the hummer into gear and drove out of the parking lot and off the school grounds.

Taking a quick right on Utica Street, she headed downtown and to the northeast, toward the rolling land on the outskirts of Tulsa that held the Gilcrease Museum.

Kalona's soul was missing, too.

Alena didn't for an instant believe that he'd been so wracked with grief that the immortal's soul had ripped apart.

"Not likely," she muttered to herself as she navigated the dark, silent streets of Tulsa.  
>"He's after her." As soon as Alena said the words aloud, she knew she was right.<p>

So what could she do about it?

She didn't have a clue. She didn't know anything about immortals or shattered souls or the spirit world.

Sure, she'd died, but she'd also un-died. And she didn't remember her soul going anywhere.

_Trapped . . . It‟d been black and cold and soundless, and I‟d wanted to scream and scream and . . . _

Alena shuddered, clamping down on her thoughts. She didn't remember much of that terrible, dead time—she didn't want to.

But she did know someone who understood a lot about immortals, especially Kalona, and the spirit world.

According to Zoey's grandma, Rephaim hadn't been anything but a spirit until Neferet had set loose his gross daddy.

"Rephaim will know something And what he knows, I'm gonna know," she said resolutely, her fingers tightening on the steering wheel.

If she had to, Alena would use the power of their Imprint, and every bit of power inside her body to get information from him. Ignoring the sick, terrible, _guilty _way it made her feel to think of fighting Rephai .

She gave the Hummer more gas and turned down Gilcrease Road. She didn't have to wonder where she'd find him.

Alena just knew. The front door to the old mansion had already been forced open, and she slipped inside the dark, cold house, following his invisible trail up and up.

She didn't need to see the balcony door ajar to know he was outside. She _knew _he was there. _I‟ll always know where he is, _she thought gloomily.

He didn't turn to face her right away, and she was glad. Alena needed the time to try to get used to the sight of him again.

"So, you came," he said, still without facing her.

_That voice—that human voice. _It struck her again, as it had the first night she'd heard it.

"You called me," she said, trying to keep her voice cool—trying to hold on to the anger she felt at what his horrible daddy had caused.

He turned to face her, and their eyes met.

_He looks exhausted, _was her first thought. _His arm‟s bleeding again. _

_She is still in pain, _was his first thought. _And she is filled with anger. _

They stared at each other silently, neither willing to speak their thoughts aloud.

"What has happened?" he finally asked.

"How do you know something's happened?" she snapped back at him.

He hesitated before speaking, obviously choosing his words carefully. "I know from you."

"You're not making sense, Rephaim." The sound of her voice speaking his name seemed to echo in the air around them, and the night was suddenly tinted with the memory of the glistening red mist that had been sent by the son of an immortal to caress Alena's skin and call her to him.

"That is because it does not make sense to me," he said, his voice deep and soft and hesitant. "I know nothing about how an Imprint works; you will have to teach me."

Alena felt her cheeks get warm. _He‟s telling the truth, _she realized. _Our Imprint lets him know things about me! And how could he understand it? I barely do. _

She cleared her throat. "So, are you saying you know something's happened because you can sense it from me?"

"Feel, not sense," he corrected her. "I felt your pain. Not like before, right after you drank from me. Then your body was in pain. Your pain tonight was emotional, not physical."

She couldn't stop staring at him, her shock clear on her face.  
>Yes, it was. It still is."<p>

"Tell me what has happened."

Instead of answering him, she asked, "Why did you call me here?"

"You were feeling pain. I could feel it, too." He paused, obviously disconcerted by what he was saying, and then continued, "I wanted to stop feeling it. So I sent you strength and called you to me."

"How did you do it? What was that red misty stuff?"

"Answer my question, and I will answer yours."

"Fine. What has happened is your daddy killed Heath, the human guy who was Zoey's consort. Zoey saw him do it and couldn't stop him, and that shattered her soul."

Rephaim continued to stare at her until it felt to Alena as if he was looking through her body and directly into her soul.

She couldn't look away, though, and the longer their gazes met, the harder it was for her to hold on to her anger. His eyes were just so human.

Only their color was off, and to Alena, the scarlet within them wasn't as alien as it should be.

Truthfully, it was frighteningly familiar; it had once tinted her own eyes.

"Don't you have anything to say about that?"she blurted, pulling her gaze from his so that she was staring out at the empty night.

"There is more. What is it you aren't telling me?"

Gathering her anger back to her, Alena met his gaze again. "Word has it your daddy's soul is shattered, too."

Rephaim blinked, shock clear in his blood-colored eyes. "I don't believe that," he said.

"Neither do I, but Neferet's dumped his spiritless body on the High Council, and apparently they're buying the story. You know what I think?" She didn't wait for him to respond, but went on, her voice rising with her frustration and anger and fear.

"I think Kalona's followed Zoey into the Otherworld because he's totally obsessed with her." Alena wiped at her cheeks, brushing off the tears she thought she'd finished shedding.

"That is impossible." Rephaim sounded almost as upset as she felt. "My father cannot return to the Otherworld. The realm has been eternally forbidden to him."

"Well, obviously there was a loophole."

"A way to get around having been eternally banished by the Goddess of Night herself? How could that be accomplished?"

"Nyx kicked him out of the Otherworld?" Alena said.

"It was my father's choice. He was once Nyx's Warrior. Their Oath Bond was broken when he fell."

"Oh my good_ness_, Kalona used to be on Nyx's side?" Without consciously knowing she was doing so, Alena moved closer to Rephaim.

"Yes. He guarded her against Darkness." Rephaim stared out at the night.

"What happened? Why did he fall?

"Father never speaks of it. I know whatever it was filled him with an anger that burned for centuries."

"And that's how you were created. From that anger."

His gaze found her again. "Yes."

"Does it fill you, too? That anger and darkness?" she couldn't stop herself from asking.

"Wouldn't you know if it did? Just as I know your pain? Is that not how this Imprint between us works?"

"Well, it's complicated. See, you've been kinda forced into the role of my consort since I'm a fully changed vampyre here and all. And it's easier for a consort to sense things about their vampyre than the other way around. What I get from you is—"

"My power," he broke in. She didn't think he sounded mad, just tired and almost hopeless. "You get my immortal strength."

"Holy shit! That's why I healed so fast."

"Yes, and why I don't."

Alena blinked in surprise. "Well, shoot. You must feel awful—you look pretty bad."

He made a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a snort. "And you look healthy and whole again."

"I am healthy, but I won't be really whole until I figure out how to help Zoey. She's my high priestess best friend, Rephaim. She can't die."

"He is my father. He can't die, either."

They stared at one another, both struggling to make sense of this thing between them that drew them together even as hurt and pain and anger swirled around them, defining and separating their worlds.

"How about this: we get you something to eat. I fix that wing again, and then we try to figure out what's going on with Zoey and your daddy. I can't feel your emotions like you can feel mine, but I can tell if you're lying to me. I' m also pretty sure I could find you, no matter where you are. So if you lie to me and set up Zoey and hurt Stevie Rae, I give you my word that I will come against you with all of my power _and _your blood."

"I will not lie to you," he said.

"Good. Let's go inside the museum and find the kitchen."

Alena left the rooftop balcony, and the Raven Mocker followed her as if was pulled by an invisible but unbreakable chain.


	18. Alena 18

"You could have anything in this world you desired with that power," Rephaim said between bites of the huge sandwich she'd fixed him from the stuff that hadn't already gone bad in the industrial refrigerators of the museum's restaurant.

"Nah, not really. I mean, sure, I can make shields that can make us invisible if I wanted it to but I can't, like, _rule the world _or anything crazy like that."

"It is an excellent power to wield."

"You know," she said changing the subject. "by saving you life, I'm following Nyx wishes."

Alena stared at him for a while, twirling her hair around and around her finger before answering,

"Because you didn't kill me?"

"Not because of that, but because Nyx believes in giving everyone free choice."

"Do you really believe everyone in the world should have free choice?"

"I do. That's why I'm here today, talking to you. I gave that same gift to you."

"You let me live hoping that I would choose my own path and not that of my father."

Alena was surprised that he had said it so freely; but she didn't question what had prompted his honesty, she just went with it.

"Yeah. I told you that when I closed the tunnel behind you and let you go instead of turning you in to my friends. You're in charge of your life now. You're not beholden to your daddy or anyone else." She paused for a second and then said the rest in a big rush.

"And you've already started down a different path by saving me on that rooftop."

"An unpaid life debt is a dangerous thing to carry. It was only logical that I repaid the debt that was between us."

"Yeah, I get that, but what about tonight?"

"Tonight?"

"You sent me your strength and called me to you. If you have that kind of power, why didn't you just break our Imprint instead? That would have ended your pain, too."

He stopped eating, and his scarlet gaze locked with hers.

"Don't make me into something I'm not. I have spent centuries in darkness. I lived with evil as my bedfellow. I am tied to my father. He is filled with an anger that might very well burn up this world, and if he returns, I am destined to be at his side. See me as I am, Alena . I am a nightmare creature given life through anger and rape. I walk among the living, but I'm ever separate, ever different. Not immortal, not man, and not beast."

Alena let his words sink into her veins. She knew he was being completely, nakedly honest with her.

But there was more to him than this machine of anger and evil he'd been created to be. She knew it because she'd been witness to it.

"Well, Rephaim, how about considering that you _might _be right"

She saw the understanding register in his blood-colored eyes. "Which means I _might _also be wrong?"

She shrugged. "I'm just saying, that's all"

Without speaking, he shook his head and went back to eating. She smiled and continued to make herself a turkey sandwich.

"So," she said, slapping mustard on white bread. "What's your theory about why your daddy's soul's is gone?"

His gaze locked with hers, and the one word he uttered made her blood run cold.

"Neferet"

"Montoya told me Neferet dumped Kalona's spiritless body on the High Council"

"Who is Montoya?"Rephaim asked.

"Just a guy I know. So it looks like Neferet turned in Kalona even though they're supposed to be together and all"

"Neferet seduces my father and pretends to be his mate, but the only thing she really cares for is herself. Where he is filled with anger, she is filled with hatred. Hatred is a more dangerous ally"

"So you're sure Neferet would betray Kalona to save herself?"Alena asked.

"I am certain Neferet would betray anyone to save herself"

"What does she gain by turning in Kalona?"

"By giving him over to the High Council, she takes suspicion from herself, "he said.

"Yeah, that makes sense. I know she wants Zoey dead. And she doesn't care about Heath at all. Actually, Neferet would be cool with the fact that seeing Kalona about to kill Heath made Zoey throw the power of spirit at him and that _not _being able to stop Kalona caused her soul to shatter. Apparently, that's just a half step away from death"

Rephaim's eyes were suddenly sharp on hers. "Zoey attacked my father with the element spirit?"

"Yeah, that's what Lenobia and Dragon told me"

"Then he has been gravely wounded" Rephaim looked away and didn't say anything else.

"Hey, you need to tell me what you know," Alena said earnestly. When he didn't speak, she sighed, and continued, "Okay, here's my truth. I came here tonight ready to force you to talk to me about your daddy and the Otherworld and all that; but now that I'm here and actually talking to you, I don't want to _force _you"

Hesitantly, she touched his arm. His body jerked when her fingers met his skin, but he didn't pull away. "Can't we work together on this? Do you really want Zoey dead?"

His eyes found hers again. "I have no reason to wish your friend's death, but you do wish my father harm"

Alena blew out a breath of frustration. "How about I compromise in what I want. What if I told you I just want Kalona to leave all of us alone?"

"I don't know if that could ever be possible," Rephaim said. "But it is possible for me to wish it.

Right now, Zoey _and _Kalona are soulless. Now, I know your daddy's an immortal, but it can't be good thing that his body's just a shell.

"No, it is not a good thing"

"So let's work together to see if we can get both of them back, and deal with what happens next when next actually happens"

"I can agree to that," he said.

"Good!"She squeezed his arm before taking her hand from him. "You said Kalona's wounded. What did you mean?"

"His body can't be killed, but if his spirit is damaged, he is physically weakened. That is how A-ya was used to entrap him. His spirit was clouded with emotions for her. It confused and weakened him, and his body became vulnerable"

"And that's how Neferet was able to dump him in front of the High Council," Alena said. "Zoey hurt his spirit, so his body is vulnerable"

"There has to be more to it than that. Unless he's held captive, as A-ya had him within the earth, Father would begin to recover almost instantly. As long as he's free, he can heal his spirit"

"Well, obviously Neferet grabbed him before he was healed. She's so evil, she probably zapped the crap outta him with that scary darkness she carries around with her and then—"

"That's it!"He stood in excitement, then grimaced from the pain in his wing. Rubbing his wounded arm, he sat back down, holding it close to him. "She continued the attack on his spirit. Neferet is Tsi Sgili. It is through using the dark forces in the spirit realm that she gains power"

"She killed Shekinah without even touching her," Alena remembered.

"Neferet touched the High Priestess but not with her hands. She manipulated the threads from deaths she is responsible for, sacrifices she's made, and dark promises she means to keep. That power is what killed Shekinah, and that is the power she wielded against my father's already weakened spirit"

"But what's she doing with him?"

"Holding his body captive and using his spirit for her own means"

"Which makes her look like one of the good guys. I'll just bet she's being all 'Oh, poor Zoey and I don't know what Kalona was thinking' to their faces'

"The Tsi Sgili is very powerful. Why would she put on that pretense to your Council?"

"Neferet doesn't want to let them know how evil she is 'cause she wants to rule the dang world. She might not be ready to take on the Vampyre High Counci l_and _the human world. Yet. So she can't let the Council know she's cool with Zoey being almost dead, even though she's glad"

"Father doesn't want Zoey dead. He simply wants to possess her"

Alena gave him a hard look. "Some of us think _possessed _against our will is worse than death."

He snorted. "You mean like being Imprinted by accident?"

Alena frowned at him. "No, that's not what I mean at all."

He snorted again and kept rubbing his arm.

Still frowning, she continued, "But what you're saying is that Kalona didn't mean for what he did to Heath to cause Zoey's soul to shatter?"

"No, because that would most likely lead to her death."

"Most likely?" Alena pounced on the words. "Does that mean it's not one hundred percent certain Zoey's gonna die. 'Cause that's what everyone is saying."

"Vampyres aren't thinking with the mind of an immortal. No death is ever as certain as mortals believe. Zoey will die if her spirit doesn't return to her body, but it is not impossible for her spirit to become whole again. It would be difficult, yes, and she would need a guide and a protector in the Otherworld, but—" His words broke off, and Alena saw shock in his eyes.

"What?"

"Neferet is using my father to ensure Zoey's spirit doesn't return. She trapped his body while he was wounded and commanded his soul to do her bidding in the Otherworld."

"But you said Kalona was kicked out of there by Nyx. How could he go back?"

Rephaim's eyes widened. "His _body _was banished."

"And his body's still in this realm! It's his spirit that's returned," Alena finished for him.

"Yes! Neferet has forced him to return. I know my father well. He would never skulk back to Nyx's Otherworld. He has too much pride. He would only return if the Goddess herself asked it of him."

"How do you know that for sure? Maybe he's going after Zoey because he finally gets it that she'll never be with him, and, like a scary, psycho stalker, he'd rather see her dead than with someone else."

Rephaim shook his head. "Father will never believe Zoey won't eventually choose him. A-ya did, and part of the maiden still lives within Zoey's soul." He paused, and before Alena could ask her next question, added, "But I know how you can be certain. If Neferet is using him, she will have Father's body bound by Darkness."

"Darkness?"

"In a way that is what it is. It's hard to define because that type of pure evil is ever-changing, ever-evolving. The Darkness of which I speak is sentient. Find someone who can perceive beings from the spirit realm, and that person should be able to see the chains the Tsi Sgili formed to bind Father, if they are there at all

"Can you sense the spirit world?"

"I can," he said, meeting her gaze without faltering. "Would you have me give myself up to your Vampyre High Council?"

Alena chewed her bottom lip. Would she? It would be giving Rephaim's life for Zoey's, and maybe even her own because she'd have to go with him, and there was no way the mega-powerful vamps on the High Council wouldn't be able to tell they were Imprinted.

"Alena?"

She jolted out of her inner argument to see Rephaim studying her. "Would you have me give myself to your Vampyre High Council?" he repeated solemnly.

"Only as our last option, and if you go, that means I go, too. And, heck, the High Council probably wouldn't even believe anything you tell them. But you said all we need is someone who is good with the spirit realm, like good enough that they can sense the Darkness and spirit stuff, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, there's a whole nest of powerful vamps on the High Council. One of them has to be able to do that."

He cocked his head to the side. "It would be unusual for a vampyre to have the ability to sense the dark forces the Tsi Sgili is wielding. That is one reason Neferet has been able to keep up her charade for so long. Truly being able to identify hidden Darkness is a singular skill. Sensing such evil is difficult unless you are familiar with it."

"Yeah, well, the High Council vamps are supposed to be all that. One of them has to be able to do it." She spoke with much more confidence than she felt.

Everyone knew the High Council vamps were chosen because of their honor and integrity and basically their all-around goodness, which didn't so much go with being familiar with Darkness.

She cleared her throat. "Okay, well, I gotta go back to the House of Night and talk to Stevie Rae," she said firmly.

Then her gaze went to his arm and the wing held limp in stained bandages behind it. "You're hurting, huh?"

He gave a short nod.

"Okay, well, are you done eating'?"

He nodded again.

She swallowed hard, remembering the shared pain of bandaging that broken wing before. "I need to go find the medical supplies. Sadly, they'll probably be in that security office which means I have to make myself invisible again. His brain is so small he probably wouldn't notice a bright shield in the middle of nowhere."

"You could sense his brain was small?"

"No, Stevie rae can. She can manipulate people and easre their memories so they cant remember a thing. Besides, Did ya see how high-waisted his pants were? No one under the age of eighty with a big brain wears grandpa pants pulled all the way to their underarms."

Then, surprising both of them, Rephaim laughed.

_I like the sound of his laughter_

_._And before her own brain could clue her mouth in to being quiet, she smiled, and said, "You should laugh more. It's nice."

Rephaim didn't say anything, but Alena couldn't decipher the odd look he gave her.

Feeling kinda uncomfortable, she hopped down from her kitchen stool, and said, "Well, I'm gonna go get the first-aid stuff, fix up your wing as best I can, get food and things together for you, and then go back and start making some super long-distance calls. Hang here. I'll be right back."

"I'd prefer to come with you," he said, standing carefully while he held his arm against his side.

"It'd probably be easier on you if you just stayed here," she said.

"Yes, but I'd prefer to be with you," he said quietly.

Alena felt a weird little jolt deep inside her at his words, but she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, and said, "Okay, suit yourself. But don't whine if it hurts you to walk around."

"I do _not _whine!" The look he gave her was so filled with guy pride that it was her turn to laugh as they left the kitchen, side by side.


	19. Alena 19

Driving home, Alena should have been thinking about Zoey and devising her next plan of attack. But that was easy. She'd tell Stevie Rae to call Aphrodite. No matter what tragedies were going on in the world, Aphrodite would have her pointy little nose in the middle of everything, especially since it had to do with Zoey.

So Alena's next step in her Save Zoey Plan was already figured out, leaving her mind wide open to think about Rephaim.

Resetting that dang wing had been awful. She still felt the phantom ache of it all through her right shoulder and her back. Even after she'd found the jar of numbing lidocaine and spread that all down his wing and his messed-up arm, she could still feel the deep, sick pain of its brokenness.

Rephaim hadn't said one word during the entire ordeal. He'd turned his head away from her, and right before she touched his wing, he'd said, "Would you do that talking thing you do while you bandage it?"

"Just exactly what _talking thing _do you mean?" she'd asked.

He'd glanced over his shoulder, and she could have sworn there was a smile in his eyes. "You talk. A lot. So go ahead and do it. It'll give me something more annoying to think about than the pain."

She'd harrumphed at him, but he'd made her smile. And she did talk to him the entire time she'd cleaned, bandaged, and reset his badly broken wing.

Actually, she'd babbled in big bursts of verbal diarrhea, saying nothing and everything as she rode the tide of pain with him.

When she was finally done, he'd followed her, slowly, silently, back to the abandoned mansion, and she'd tried to make the closet more comfortable by stuffing in blankets she'd grabbed from the museum's staff lounge.

"You need to go. Don't worry about this." He'd taken the last blanket from her and then practically collapsed into the closet.

"Look, I put the sack of food right here. And remember to drink lots of the water and juice. Hydrating's good," she'd said, feeling suddenly worried about leaving him looking so weak and tired.

"I will. Go."

"Fine. Yeah. I'm going. I'll try to get back here tomorrow, though."

He'd nodded wearily.

"All right. I'm outta here."

She'd turned to go when he said, "You should talk to your mother."

She'd stopped like she'd run into an electric fence. "Why in the world would you say something 'bout my momma?"

He'd blinked at her a couple times like she'd confused him, paused, and finally answered with: "You talked about her while you bandaged my wing. You don't remember?"

"No. Yes. I guess I wasn't really paying attention to what I was saying." She'd automatically rubbed her own right arm. "

I mostly just moved my mouth while I hurried to get the job done."

"I listened to you instead of the pain."

"Oh." Alena hadn't known what to say.

"You said she believes you are dead. I just . . ." He trailed off, seeming as confused as if he were trying to decipher an unfamiliar language. "I just thought you should tell her you live. She would want to know, wouldn't she?"

"Yes."

They'd stared at each other until she'd finally made her mouth say, "Bye, and don't forget to eat."

Then she'd practically run out of the museum.

"Why in the heck did it freak me out so bad that he mentioned my mama?" Alena asked herself aloud.

She knew the answer, and—no—she didn't want to say it aloud.

He _cared about _what she'd said to him; he cared that she missed her momma. As she parked at the House of Night and got out of the hummer, she admitted to herself that it wasn't really his caring that had freaked her out. It was how his concern made her feel. She'd been glad he cared, and Alena knew it was dangerous to be glad that a monster cared about her.

"There you are! It's about time you got back." Montoya practically popped out of the bushes at her.

"Montoya! I swear to the Goddess herself that I'm gonna knock the living crap right outta you if you don't stop scaring me."

"Hit me later. Right now you need to get up to the Council Chamber 'cause Lenobia is not happy that you took off."

Alena sighed and followed Montoya upstairs to the room across from the library that the school used as their Council Chamber.

She hurried in, and then hesitated at the doorway. The tension in the air was so thick it was almost visible. The table was big and round, so it should have brought people together.

Not that day. That day the table seemed more like a middle-school cafeteria with its separate and very hateful cliques.

On one curved side sat Lenobia, Dragon, Erik, Stevie Rae, and Kramisha. On the other side were Professors Penthasilea, Garmy, and Vento.

They were in the middle of what looked like a serious glare war when Montoya cleared his throat, and Lenobia looked up at them.

"Alena! Finally. I realize these are unusual times, and that we are all under incredible stress, but I would appreciate it if you would restrain your next urge to take off to a park or wherever you went if a school Council meeting has been called."

Lenobia's voice was so harsh that Alena automatically bristled. She opened her mouth to snap back at her and tell the Horse Mistress that she wasn't the boss of her.

But she wasn't just some fledgling kid anymore, and stomping away from a group of vamps who cared about Zoey—well, at least a few of them did—wasn't going to help their situation.

_Begin as you would end, _she could almost hear her momma's voice in her mind.

So instead of throwing a fit and taking off, Alena stepped into the room and sat in one of the chairs that was smack between the two groups. When she spoke, she didn't let herself sound pissed.

Actually, she tried her best to mimic the way her momma sounded when she used to get real disappointed with her.

"Lenobia, I will be taking off sometimes to think for myself, with or without anyone's permission, and whether or not you have called a meeting.." She turned to the other side of the room, and added a quick,

"Hi, Professor P, and Garmy and Vento. I haven't seen you in a long time."

The three professors mumbled hellos, and she ignored the fact that they were staring at her red tattoos like she was a science project gone wrong at the 4-H fair.

"So, Montoya said Neferet dumped Kalona's body on the High Council and it looks like his soul is shattered too." Alena said "Yes, though some don't want to believe it," Prof P said, sending a dark look to Lenobia.

"Kalona is not Erebus!" Lenobia practically exploded. "Just as we all know Neferet is _not _the earthly incarnation of Nyx! This whole subject is ridiculous."

"The Council reports that the Prophetess Aphrodite announced the winged immortal's spirit had shattered, just as has Zoey's," said Proffy Garmy.

"Hang on." Stevie Raeheld up her hand to stop the tirade that was obviously getting ready to come at Kramisha.

"Did you say _Aphrodite _and_Prophetess _together?"

"That is what the High Council has named her," Erik said dryly. "Even though most of us wouldn't call her that."

Stevie Rae lifted her brows at him. "Really? I would. Zoey would. And you _have _. Maybe not out loud, but you've followed her visions, more than once." She looked at Proffy Garmy. "Aphrodite can sense things about Kalona's spirit?"

"So the High Council believes."

Stevie Rae breathed a long sigh of relief. "That's the best news I've heard in days." She glanced at the clock, and started counting ahead seven hours for Venice time.

It was about 10:30P.M. in Tulsa, which meant it was probably still before dawn over there. "I need a phone. Stevie Rae has to call Aphrodite. Damn! I left my cell in my room." She started to get up.

"Why do you need me to call Aphrodite?"

"Alena, what are you doing?" Dragon asked, as they all stared at her.

She hesitated long enough to look back at the room and the tense, glaring vamps. "I'm _not _gonna sit around and argue about who Kalona is or who Neferet is when Zoey needs help. I'm _not _gonna give up on Zoey because I care about her just like Stevie Rae, and I'm _not _gonna let you drag me into some weird teacher bickering war." She met Stevie Raes startled gaze. "Do you believe me, my high priestess?'

"Yep," she said without hesitation.

"Thank you. And you too, Kramisha. Montoya?"

"Like always, I'm with you, mujer," he said.

Alena looked from vampyre to vampyre, then turned her back on the room and, with her friends left.


	20. Aphrodite 20

"Thought I had the ringer turned off. I don't know who would be . . ." Her voice trailed off when she saw the caller ID was Stevie Rae. She almost pressed the IGNORE button, but a_feeling _hit her—strong and clear.

She needed to talk to Stevie Rae. "Uh, sorry again, but I really have to take this." Aphrodite hurried up the stairs and out of the Chamber, feeling way too exposed as everyone glared after her like she'd just slapped a baby or drowned a damn puppy.

"Stevie Rae," she whispered hastily, "I know you probably just found out about Z, and you're freaked, but this really isn't a good time."

"Can you sense spirits and stuff from the Otherworld?" Stevie Rae asked without so much as a "Hey there, how ya doin'."

Something about the tone of her voice brought Aphrodite up short and kept her from replying with her usual sarcasm.

"Yeah, I'm starting to be able to. Apparently, I've been tuned in to the Otherworld since I started having visions—I just didn't realize it until today."

"Where's Kalona's body?"

Aphrodite ducked around the corner of the foyer. No one was around her, but she still kept her voice low. "Down there in front of the High Council in their Chamber."

"Is Neferet there, too?"

"Of course."

"Zoey?"

"She's there, too. Well, her body is. Z herself has totally checked out. Stark's absolutely freaked by what's happened, plus Neferet is pissing him off so bad he can hardly think. Darius is saving his ass by not letting him tear her apart with his bare hands. The nerd herd is hysterical."

"But you kept your sense."

Stevie Rae didn't say it like a question, but Aphrodite answered her anyway. "Someone had to."

"Good. Okay, I think Alena may have something figured out about Kalona. If she's right, Neferet is up to her elbows in evil, so much so that she's got his body trapped, and his spirit has to obey her to get it back."

"Like that would surprise any of us?"

"I'll bet it would surprise most of the High Council. Neferet has a way of gettin' people on her side."

Aphrodite snorted. "As far as I can tell, most of them are clueless about her."

"That's what Alena thought. So moving against her out in the open there is going to be even harder than moving against her when she was here."

"That about sums it up. So, what's the deal with Kalona?"

"You need to check out his body using your super Spidey Other-world senses."

"You're such a dork. There is no such thing as Spider-Man. He is a made-up comic-book-bullshit character," Aphrodite said.

"They're called graphic novels, not comic books—don't be so dang judgmental. I do not have time to argue with you about the benefits of graphic novels on people's imaginations," Stevie Rae said.

"Oh, please, if its ass is feathered and waterproof, it's a duck. Hello, pictures with little word balloons makes it a comic book. They're _dorky _comic books for _nerdy _antisocial, nonbathing people. End of discussion."

"Aphrodite! Focus! Just go back in the Chamber and check out Kalona's body with your Otherworld-spirit-sensing stuff. Look for any kind of weirdness that no one else can see. Like, I dunno—"

"A disgusting, sticky spiderweb of darkness wrapped all around him like freaky chains?" Aphrodite offered.

"Don't mess with me about this. It's too important." Stevie Rae's voice had gone completely serious.

"I'm not messing with you. I'm telling you what I've already seen. His body is completely covered

by dark threads of yucky stuff that, apparently, no one else but _moi _can see."

"It's Neferet!" Stevie Rae's voice was tense with emotion. "Alena says she's tapped into something called Darkness—that's evil with a capital D. It's how she's using the power of the Tsi Sgili. She managed to trap Kalona with it right after Zoey wounded his soul—it's the only time his body is weak enough to be vulnerable."

"How do you know that?"

"It's how the Cherokee imprisoned him last time." Alena yelled into the speaker, avoiding the question by using the only part of the truth she could ever tell anyone. "A-ya messed up his spirit with emotions he wasn't used to feeling, and the old women used his weakness to trap him."

"That does make sense. So now Neferet's got him all tied up and soulless. Why? She's his super nasty lover. Why wouldn't she want him here with her? The two of them could have taken off together and not been caught for killing Heath."

"Yeah, except for two things" Stevie Rae began with what Alena told her. "she would have looked guilty, so the High Council would have been forced to act against her, and she wouldn't have been one hundred percent sure Zoey is going to die."

"What the hell? The Council says she has a week, but then Z will be dead."

"Not true. If her soul returns to her body, Z won't die. Neferet knows that, so she—"

"She trapped Kalona's body and told him to follow Z to the Other-world and make sure she doesn't get back to her body," Aphrodite finished for her.

"That fucking figures! But it doesn't feel right. Kalona's totally obsessed with Z. I don't think he wants her to die."

"Yeah, but what if the only way to get his body back is to kill Zoey?"

Aphrodite's voice hardened. "Then he'll kill her. Stevie Rae, what the hell are we going to do?"

"We have to figure out a way to protect Z and help her get back to her body, and no, I don't know how we're gonna do that." She turned to Alena and Alena hesitated. She had to answer Aprhodite so, crossing her fingers behind her back against the semi-lie, added,

"Today soemthing helped me find out some pretty weird stuff about Kalona. Seems he used to be Nyx's Warrior. So, he used to be one of the good guys. Then something happened in the Otherworld, and the Goddess banished him, and that's when he fell to earth."

"Which means he knows the Otherworld a hell of a lot better than any of us," Aphrodite said glumly.

"Yeah. What we need is a Warrior for Zoey in the Other-world who can stand up against Kalona and get Zoey back to her body."

Aphrodite felt a little zap of understanding at Alena's words. "But she already has a Warrior."

"Stark's in _this _world. Not the Otherworld." Stevie Rae said.

"But a Warrior and his Priestess are connected by a bond that is all about spirit and oaths and dedication. I know! I have it with Darius." Aphrodite's voice was getting more and more excited as she reasoned it through. "And you can't tell me that my Warrior wouldn't follow me straight into the mouth of hell to protect me. All we need to do is to get Stark's soul to the Otherworld so he can protect Z there, just like he does here."

_And it might save him, too, _she added silently to herself.

"I don't know, Aphrodite. Stark has to be pretty messed-up after losing Zoey and all."

"That's the point. He has to save himself by saving her."

"But that doesn't work. I've been remembering somethin' from _The Fledgling Handbook 101 _. There was that whole big story in there about a High Priestess _and _her Warrior who died when her soul was shattered and he went after her into the Otherworld."

"Please, dork. It's in the 101 handbook because it's meant to scare the crap out of retarded third formers, like you, so that hot young fledglings stay away from sexy Sons of Erebus Warriors. The stupid thing was probably written by some dried-up old hag of a High Priestess who hadn't had sex in, like, a hundred years. Literally. Stark needs to follow Zoey to the Otherworld, kick Kalona's spirit's ass, and then bring her back here."

"It has to be more complicated than that."

"Probably, but whatever. We'll figure it out."

"How?"

Aphrodite paused, thinking of Thanatos and her wise, dark eyes. "I might know someone who can at least point us in the right direction."

"Don't let Neferet know you're onto her," Stevie Rae cautioned.

"I'm not stupid, stupid Aphrodite said. "Leave this whole thing in my extremely capable and well-manicured hands. I'll call you later with an update, BYE!

She hit the red END CALL button before Stevie Rae could nag her anymore. And smiling slyly, headed back into the Council Chamber.


	21. Alena 21

"Skye? Really? Where is that? Ireland?" Stevie Rae said.

"It's Scotland, not Ireland, retard," Aphrodite said.

"Aren't they kinda the same thing? And don't say 'retard.' It's not nice."

"How about if I say bite me? Is that nice enough? Just listen and try not to be so asstarded, bumpkin. I need you to get Alena to do more of her whatever she did weird, and see if you can come up with some info about Light _and_Darkness—you know, with a capital L and D. Also, tell her to pay attention to something about two bulls."

"Bulls? You mean like cows?"

"Are you not from the country? How is it that you don't know what a bull is?"

"Look, Aphrodite, that's an ignorant stereotype. Just 'cause I'm not from a big city does _not_mean I automatically know about cows and stuff. Heck, I don't even like horses."

"I swear you're a mutant," Aphrodite said. "A bull is a male cow. Even my mom's schizophrenic Bichon Frise knows that. Focus, would you, this is important. You need to go ask the fucking grass about an ancient and entirely too barbaric and therefore unattractive mythology or religion or some such that includes two fighting bulls, a white one and a black one, and a very guylike, violent, unending struggle between good and evil."

"What does this have to do with gettin' Zoey back?"

"I think it might somehow open a door for Stark to the Otherworld, _without_him actually dying because, apparently, that doesn't so much work for Warriors protecting their High Priestesses there."

"The cows can do that? How? Cows can't even talk."

"Bulls, double retard. Stay with me. I'm not just talking about animals, but the rawness of the power that surrounds them. The bulls represent that power."

"So they're not gonna talk?"

"Oh, for shit's sake! They might and they might not—they're super old magick, stupid! Who the hell knows what they can do? Just get this: to make it to the Otherworld, Stark can't be civilized and modern and all nicey-nice. He's got to figure out how to be more than that to reach Zoey and to protect her without getting both of them killed, and this olden-time religion might be a key to that."

"I guess that makes sense. I mean, When I think about Kalona, I don't I don't exactly think of a modern guy." Alena listened to Stevie Rae, acknowledging only to herself that she was thinking of Rephaim and not his father.

"And he's definetly got some raw power."

"And definitely in the Otherworld without being dead."

"Which is where Stark needs to be."

"So, go tell her to talk to flowers about bulls and such," Aphrodite said.

"I'll tell her," Stevie Rae said.

"Call me when she finds something."

"Yeah, okay."

"Hey, tell her to be careful," Aphrodite said.

"See, you can be nice," Stevie Rae said.

"Goodbye, bumpkin."

"Alena, so you know what to do for me right?"

"Yes, Stevie Rae. I wont fail you. She's your best friend."

Sadness enveloped Alena but she knew Alena was going to keep her promise. "She is which i'm trusting you to find more information, ok?"

"Yes."

"Good now I have to go but call me the second you find out something. Blessed be"

"Blessed be." Alena said doing the formal greeting over her chest as she watched Stevie Rae go take a shower.

Alena opened the door to leave Stevie Rae's dorm room, and almost ran smack into Kramisha's hand, raised to knock on her door.

They both jumped and then Kramisha shook her head. "Don't do weird shit like that. Makes me think you ain't normal no more."

"Kramisha, if I'd known you were out here, I wouldn't have jumped when I opened the door."

"they's nothin' wrong with me. You, on the other hand," she said, pointing to Alena. "look like one hot messatude."

"I almost burned up on a roof. I think that gives me the right to look like crap."

"I don't mean you look bad." Kramisha cocked her head to the side. Today she was wearing her bright yellow bob wig, which she'd coordinated with sparkly fluorescent yellow eye shadow.

"Actually, you lookin' good—all glowly like white folks get when they real healthy with a new tan. It kinda reminds me of cute little baby pigs with they pinkness."

"Kramisha, what do you want?"Alena said.

"I'm just sayin' that you look good, but you ain't _doing_good. In there, and there." Kramisha pointed from Alena's heart to her head.

"I've got a lot on my mind," Alena said evasively.

"Yeah, I know that, what with Zoey totally jacked up and all, but you gotta keep your shit together just the same."

"I am." Alena said

"No you ain't. Stevie Rae needs your help with Zoey. I know you ain't there with her, but I got this feelin' that you can help her. So you gotta be using your good sense."

Kramisha was staring at her with an intensity that made Alena want to fidget. "I am."

"You up to somethin' crazy?" She said to Alena.

"No!"

"You sure? 'Cause this is for you." Kramisha held up a piece of purple notebook paper that had something written on it in her distinctive mixture of cursive and printing. "And it feels like a whole bunch of crazy to me."

Alena snatched the paper from her hand. "Why didn't you tell Stevie Rae?"

"I was gettin' 'round to it." Kramisha crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway, obviously waiting for Alena to read the poem.

"Shouldn't you be doing something?"

"Nope. The rest of the kids is eatin'. Oh, 'cept for Montoya. He's working with Dragon on some sword stuff, even though school ain't starting again officially, and I do not see no need to rush things, so I do not get why he in such a hurry to go to class. Anyway, just read the poem. I ain't goin' nowhere."

Alena stifled a sigh.

Kramisha's poems tended to be confusing and abstract, but they were also often prophetic, and just thinking about one of them being obviously for Alena had her stomach feeling like she'd eaten raw eggs. Reluctantly, her eyes went to the paper and she started to read:

_The daughter of the Red one steps into the light_

_girded loins for her part in__the apocalyptic fight._

_Darkness hides in different forms_

_see beyond shape, color, lies__and the emotional storms._

_Ally with him; pay with your heart though trust cannot be given_

_unless the Darkness you part._

_See with the soul and not your eyes__because to dance with beasts you_

_must penetrate their disguise._

Alena shook her head, glanced up at Kramisha, and then read the poem again, slowly, willing her heart to please stop beating so loud that it would betray the guilty terror the thing instantly made her feel. 'Cause Kramisha was right; it was obviously about her.

Of course it was also obviously about her _and_Rephaim.

"See what I mean 'bout it bein' 'bout you?"

Alena shifted her gaze from the poem to Kramisha's intelligent eyes. "I'm not the only daughter of the red one. The first line says that."

"Yeah, see, I was sure 'bout that, too, even though no one's left the house of night except you. Yous be acting strange lately."

"I guess it makes sense," Alena said quickly, while trying to drown out the memory of Rephaim's voice calling her _daughter of the Red One_.

"That's what I thought, even though there is that whole bunch of freaky 'bout the beasts and stuff. I had to look up the gird-your-loins part 'cause it sounded nasty and sexual, but it ended up just bein' a way to say she need to get real ready for a fight."

"There's a lot of fights going on," Alena said, looking back at the poem.

"Looks like you in for some more—and it's some bad shit, too, you got to be real ready for." Then she cleared her throat meaningfully, and Alena reluctantly met her eyes again.

"Who is he?"

"He?"

Kramisha crossed her arms. "Do not talk to me like I'm stupid. _Him._The guy my poem says you're gonna give your heart to."

"I am not!"

"Oh, then you do know who he is." Kramisha tapped the toe of her leopard-print boots. "And he definitely ain't Montoya, 'cause you wouldn't be freaked about givin' him your heart. Everyone know you two got a thing, so who is _he?_"

"I don't have a clue. I'm only seeing Montoya."Alena lied.

"Huh," Kramisha snorted through her nose.

"Look, I'm gonna keep this and think about it," Alen said, stuffing the poem into skirt pocket

"Let me guess—you want me to keep my mouth shut 'bout it," Kramisha said, tapping her foot again.

Alena blew out a long breath, decided to tell as much of the truth as she could, and started again. "I don't want you to say anything because I got guys issues, and I don't want anyone to know, especially Montoya.

"That's more like it. Guy shit can be one hot mess, and like my mama always says, it just ain't right to put your personal business all out there for everbody to see."

"Thanks."

Kramisha held up her hand. "Hang on. Didn't nobody say I was done with this subject. My poems is important. This one is about more than your jacked-up love life. So like I said before, get the crazy cleared from your head and remember to use your good sense. And also, every time I wrote the word _Darkness_, it made my insides feel wrong."

Alena gave Kramisha a long look, debating whether she should say anything about Rephaim. "Can you walk with me to the parking lot? I want to talk to you."

"No problem," Kramisha said. "Plus, it's 'bout time you said something 'bout what's going on inside your head to someone. You been actin' wacked lately, and I mean even before Zoey got herself shattered."

"Yeah, I know," Alena mumbled.

Neither one of them said anything more while they walked down the stairs and through the busy dorm

"The Darkness in my poem that makes me feel wrong—you don't think that's 'bout us, do you?"

"No!" Alena shook her head emphatically. "Nyx gave us a choice, and we chose good over evil—Light over Darkness."

"It's the others, huh?" Even though they were alone, Kramisha lowered her voice.

Alena thought about it and realized Kramisha could be right. "I guess it could be talking about them, but if it is, it's really bad."

"Please. We all know they real bad."

"Yeah, well, Stevie Rae just found out some stuff from Aphrodite that gives Darkness a whole new level of evil. And if they're involved, they following Neferet."

"Shit."

"Yeah and after talking with Aphrodite, Stevie Rae wanted me go and try to see if we can use the info she told us to help Stark get to the Otherworld so he can protect Z while she puts her soul back together."

"You mean get Stark to the Otherworld without him being all dead and stuff?"

"Yeah."

"So you gonna use that old shit to figure out how to do it right?"

Alena smiled at her. "We're gonna try. And you can help."

"Say the word—I'm there."

"Okay, here goes: Aphrodite's found some new Prophetess powers since she's been focused on them." Alena said. "Anyway, I was thinking that even though I don't have a circle here like Zoey does around her there, Stevie Rae has a Prophetess."

Kramisha blinked, looked confused, and when Alena kept staring at her, her eyes finally widened in understanding. "Me?"

"You and your poems. You did it before. You can do it again."

"But—"

"But look at it this way," Alena broke in. "Aphrodite figured it out. Are you gonna let her outsmart you?"

Kramisha's eyes narrowed. "I got a whole world of smart that rich white girl don't know nothin' about."

"Well, then, you're not gonna let little miss snooty best you out right?"

"No, I'll help."

"Okay, good I'm gonna go and see if I can figure anything out. Hey, can you find Montoya and fill him in on everything but the poem."

"I already told you I ain't rattin' you out."

"Thanks, ya." Alena waved and started to jog for her car.

"I got your back!"

Kramisha's parting words had her grinning as she started her car. She was just getting ready to put the car into gear when she realized she didn't know where she was going, and creating a circle thing would be easier if she'd bothered to grab candles and maybe even some sweet grass to draw some positive energy.

Totally annoyed at herself, she put the car into neutral. Where was she going?

_Back to Rephaim._ The thought was like breathing—instant and natural.

Alena reached for the gearshift, but her hand paused. Would going back to Rephaim right now really be the smartest thing for her to do?

Sure, on one hand she'd gotten a bunch of info from him about Kalona and Darkness and such.

On the other, she didn't really trust him. She _couldn't_really trust him.

Plus, he messed with her head. When she'd read Kramisha's poem, she'd been busy obsessing about him to consider anything else—like the fact the poem could be a warning about the bad red fledglings and not just stuff about her and the Raven Mocker.

So what the heck should she do?

She'd told Rephaim she'd come back to check on him, but she wanted to return because of more than just telling him she would. Alena needed to see him.

_Needed to?_Yes, she admitted reluctantly to herself. She needed to see the Raven Mocker.

"I'm Imprinted with him. That means we have a connection, and there's not much I can do about it," she muttered to herself while she squeezed the steering wheel. "I'm just gonna have to get used to it and deal with it."

_And I have to remember that he is his father's son._

Fine. She'd check on him. She'd also ask him questions about Light as well as Darkness, and about the bulls.

But she should do some digging for herself without Rephaim. She really should evoke a circle and see what info she could get on the bulls. That would be using her good sense. Then Alena grinned and slapped the steering wheel.

"I got it! I'll stop at that cute old park that's on the way to Gilcrease. Do a circle and then check on Rephaim."

Of course first she'd duck back into Nyx's Temple and grab some candles, some matches, and some sweetgrass. Feeling better now that she had a plan, she was just getting ready to drive when she heard the sound of boots tapping against the asphalt of the parking lot and then Monotoya speaking with exaggerated nonchalance.

"I'm just walkin' out here to Alena's car. I'm not sneakin' up on her and makin' her jump."

Alena rolled down her window and grinned at him. "Hey there, Montoya. I thought Kramisha said you were working with Dragon."

"I was. Check it out—Dragon gave me this cool knife. Said it's a dirk. He also said I might be good with it."

Alena watched dubiously as Montoya pulled a pointy, double-edged knife from a leather holder he was wearing strapped around his waist and held it kinda awkwardly, like he wasn't sure whether it would cut someone else, or cut him.

"It's really sharp," Alena said, trying to sound positive.

"Yeah, that's why I'm not using it to practice with yet, but Dragon did say I could wear it. For a while. If I was careful."

"Oh, okay. Cool."

"Yeah, so, I got done with my dirk lessons and ran into Kramisha on my way out of the Field House," Montoya said while he sheathed the knife. "She said she'd left you here 'cause you were gettin' ready to take off to go do some earth thing. I thought I'd try to catch you before you left and come along."

"Oh, well. That's nice, Montoya, but I'm fine by myself. Actually, it would really help if you grabbed some candles, some sweetgrass and some matches for me from Nyx's Temple please?"

She was surprised when Montoya didn't say okay and jogged away for the stuff. Instead, he just stood there, watching her, with his hands shoved down in his jeans pockets and looked kinda annoyed

"What?" she asked.

"I'm sorry I'm not a Warrior!" he blurted. "I'm tryin' the best I can to learn somethin' from Dragon, but it's gonna take me a while to get decent at it. I've never really cared about all that fightin' stuff, and I'm sorry!" Montoya repeated, looking more and more upset.

"Montoya, what are you talking about?"

He threw his hands up in frustration. "I'm talkin' about me not being good enough for you. I know you need more—that you need a Warrior. Hell, Alena, if I'd been your Warrior, I could've been there for you when those kids attacked you and almost killed you. If I were your Warrior, you wouldn't be sendin' me off on stupid errands. You'd keep me close to you, so I could protect you during all this stuff you're goin' through."

"I'm doing fine, and getting stuff for me is not a stupid errand."

"Yeah, okay, but you deserve better than a guy who doesn't know shit about protecting his woman."

Alena's brows went up to meet her side swept bangs. "Did you just call me your woman?"

"Well, yeah." He fidgeted, and then added, "But in a good way."

"Montoya, you couldn't have stopped what happened on the roof," she said truthfully.

"I should have been with you; I should be your Warrior."

"I don't need a Warrior!" she yelled, exasperated at his stubbornness and hating the fact that he was so upset.

"Well, you sure as hell don't need me anymore." He turned his back on the Hummer and shoved his hands into his jeans pockets.

Alena looked at his hunched shoulders and felt terrible. She'd hurt him because she'd been pushing him and everyone away to keep Rephaim a secret. Guilty, she got out of the car and touched his shoulder gently.

He didn't look at her.

"Hey, that's not true. I do need you."

"Sure. That's why you've been busy shoving me away."

"No, I've just been busy. Sorry if I've been shoving you away," she said.

He turned to her. "Not shoving me away. Just not caring anymore."

"I do care!" she said quickly, and stepped into his arms, hugging him back as tightly as he was hugging her.

Montoya spoke softly into her ear. "Then let me come with you."

Alena pulled back so she could look at him, and the "no, you can't" she'd been ready to say died on her lips.

It was like she could see his heart through his eyes, and it was clear that she was breaking him.

What the hell was she doing hurting him because of Rephaim? She'd saved the Raven Mocker.

She wasn't sorry about that. She was sorry that it was hurting Montoya, the one guy she really liked.

"Okay,you can come with me," she told him.

His eyes instantly brightened. "You mean it?"

" Yeah. I do need that candle and the sweetgrass though."

"Hell, I'll get you a whole bag of candles and all the grass you want!" Montoya laughed, kissed her, and then, yelling that he'd be right back, sprinted away.

Slowly, Alena got back into the car. She gripped the steering wheel and stared straight ahead, reciting her mental to-do list aloud like a mantra.

"Conjure up a circle like Zoey did, and do it with Montoya.. Find out what I can about the bulls. Bring Montoya back to the school. Make a good excuse to leave again, only this time alone. Go to the Gilcrease and check on Rephaim. See if he knows anything else that might help Zoey and Stark. Come back here. Don't hurt your friends by shoving them away. Clue in Stevie Rae about what I found out. Get Stevie Rae to call Aphrodite back."

Feeling like she was drowning, Alena lowered her head until her forehead pressed against the steering wheel.

How in the world did Stevie Rae and Zoey deal with all of this bullshit and stress?

_She didn't,_the thought came unbidden to her mind, _it shattered her._


	22. Alena 22

"Wow! It looks like one of those super tornados cut its way through Tulsa," Montoya said. He was gawking as Alena maneuvered the car carefully around yet another pile of fallen tree limbs.

The entry road to the park was blocked by a Bradford pear tree that had been split almost perfectly in half, so Alena ended up stopping beside it.

"At least some of the power is coming back on." She gestured at the streetlights that ringed the park, illuminating what was a total mess of ice-damaged trees and flattened azalea bushes.

"Not for those folks, though." Montoya jerked his chin at the neat little houses near the park. Here and there a light shone bravely through a window, proving that some people had had the foresight to buy propane generators before the storm hit, but mostly the surrounding area remained dark and cold and silent.

"It sucks for them, but makes my life easier tonight," Alena said, getting out of the car. Carrying a tall ritual candle, a braided length of dried sweetgrass, and a box of long matches, Montoya joined her. "No one is going to know what I'm doing."

"You're definitely right about that, mujer." Montoya draped his arm familiarly over Alena's shoulders.

"Aw, I like it when you call me that." She threaded her arm around his waist, sticking her hand in the back pocket of his jeans like she used to do. He squeezed her shoulder and kissed the top of her head.

"Then I'll call you mujer more often," he said.

Alena grinned up at him. "Are you trying to make me soft?"

"No se. Is it workin'?"

"Maybe."

"Good."

They both laughed. She bumped him with her hip. "Let's go over there to the big oak. That looks like a good place."

"Whatever you say, mujer."

They made their way slowly to the center of the park, walking around shattered tree limbs and sloughing through the cold, wet muck that was left from the storm, trying not to slip on the patches of ice that had begun to refreeze in the chill of the night.

She'd been right to let Montoya come with her. Maybe part of her confusion about Rephaim had happened because she'd gotten kinda isolated from her friends and was focusing too hard on the weirdness of their Imprint.

Maybe she just needed some time—and space—to deal with the newness of it.

"Hey, check it out." Montoya pulled her attention back to him. He was pointing at the ground around the old oak. "It's like the tree made a circle for you."

"That's cool!" she said. And it was! The solid tree had weathered the storm well. The only branches it had lost were a smattering of limb tips.

They'd fallen onto the grass, forming a perfect circle completely around the tree.

Montoya hesitated at the edge of the circumference. "I'm gonna stay out here, okay? So it really can be like this is a circle cast especially for you, and I haven't broken it," he said.

Alena looked up at him. Montoya was a good guy. He was always saying sweet things and letting her know he understood her better than most people did. "Thank you. That's really nice, Montoya." She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him softly.

His arms tightened around her, and he held her closer to him. "Anything for you."

His breath was warm and sweet against her mouth and, on impulse, Alena kissed him again, liking that he was making her feel all tingly inside. And liking that his touch was blocking thoughts of Rephaim from her mind.

She was more than a little breathless when he reluctantly let her go.

He cleared his throat and gave a little laugh. "Be careful, mujer. It's been a long time since you and me been alone."

Feeling kinda giggly and light-headed, she dimpled at him. "Too long."

His smile was sexy and cute. "We'll have to fix that soon, but first you better get to work."

"Oh, yeah," she said. "Work, work, work . . ."

Smiling, she took the sweetgrass braid, the candle, and the matches he'd brought her.

"Hey," Montoya said, handing her the stuff, "I just remembered something about sweetgrass. Aren't you supposed to use somethin' else before you burn it? I was kinda good in Spells and Rituals Class, and I swear there was more to it than just lighting the braid and waving it around."

Alena screwed up her forehead, thinking. "I don't know. Zoey talked about it because it's a Native American thing. She said it draws positive energy.

"

"Okay, well, I guess Zoey would know," Montoya said.

Shrugging, Alena said, "Yeah,"

"Okay, well, here goes." Whispering a simple thank you to Nyx, she turned her back to Montoya, stepped over the boundary and entered the earth-made circle.

Alena strode confidently to the northernmost point inside the circumference, which was directly in front of the old tree. She stopped there and closed her eyes. Alena had learned early from Alena that the best way to connect with something was through her senses.

So she breathed in deeply, clearing her mind of all the cluttered thoughts she usually carried around with her and allowing only one thing to leak through; the sense of hearing.

She listened to the Nyx. Alena could hear Nyx moving the so it can murmer through the winter leaves, the night birds singing to each other, the sounds and sighings of the park settling down for a long, cold night.

Alena drew in another breath and focused on smell. She breathed in the damp heaviness of ice-encapsulated grass, the crisp cinnamon of the browned leaves, the uniquely mossy fragrance of the ancient oak.

Alena drew another deep breath and imagined the rich, full taste and the ripeness of summer tomatoes.

Taste overflowing with smell, she thought about the touch of the softness of summer grass against her feet—of dandelions tickling her chin—of the way the Nyx commanded the earth to lift and fill all of her senses after a spring rain.

And then, drawing an even deeper breath, Alena let her spirit embrace the wonderful, amazing feeling.

Nyx was mother, counselor, sister, and friend. Nyx grounded her, and even when everything else in her world was totally screwed up, she could count on Nyx to calm and protect her.

Smiling, Alena opened her eyes. She turned to her right. "Air, I ask that Nyx let you to come to my circle."

Even though she didn't have a yellow candle, or anyone to represent air, Alena knew it was important to acknowledge and pay respect to each of the other four elements.

And, if she was really lucky, they might actually show up and strengthen her circle. Facing south, she continued, "Fire, I ask that you Nyx let you come to my circle." Turning clockwise, she called, "Water, I'd like that Nyx let you come to my circle."

Then, deviating from a traditional casting, Alena stepped back a few feet to the middle of the grassy area, and said, "Spirit, this is out of order, but I'd really like it if Nyx let you it join my circle, too."

Walking forward to the north, Alena was almost one hundred percent sure she caught sight of a thin silver thread of light spiraling around her. She grinned over her shoulder at Montoya. "Hey, I think it's working."

"Of course it's working, Mujer. You got some serious mojo going on."

Alena was still smiling when she turned back to the north. Feeling proud and strong, she finally lit the candle, saying, "Earth, I know this isn't in the right order, but I'm asking for you to come to me. Please, Nyx, let earth come to me."

Moments before the night had been cold and wet and dominated by the crippling ice storm, but now Alena felt the welcomed warmth and humidity of a warm summer night surrounded by the plants and trees.

"Thank you!" she said joyfully. "Nyx, I can't tell you how much it means to me that I can always count on you." Heat radiated up from under her feet, and the ice that encased the grass within the circle cracked and shattered as the blades sprang free, temporarily released from their winter prison.

"Okay." She kept her mind filled with her element and spoke to the elements as if they were a person standing right in front of her. "I have to ask you something but first I'm need to light the sweet grass."

Alena held the dried sweet grass in the flame and then set the candle at her feet when the braid took light.

She blew softly on it, so that the grass began to smoke. Alena turned and, grinning at Montoya, walked around the inside of the circumference of her circle, wafting the grass until the entire area was hazy with gray smoke and heady with the scent of summertime on the prairie.

When she returned to the top of the circle, Alena faced north again, and began to speak. "My friend, Zoey Redbird, said that sweet grass draws positive energy. I know you remember her—she has an affinity for you, just like she does for all the elements. She's special, and not just because she's my High Priestess's BFF. Zoey's special because," Alena paused, and then the words came to her, "Zoey has a little bit of everything inside her. We need her back. Plus, I think she needs our help to find her way out. Her Warrior, Stark, needs to go after her. He definitely needs your , I'm asking that you show me the way so that Stark can go to Zoey and help her. Please."

Alena wafted the still-smoking braid around her one more time, and then she waited.

The smoke was sweet and thick. The night was unusually warm thanks to Nyx's help.

But nothing else was going on.

Nothing was happening.

At all.

Not sure what else to do, Alena wafted the sweet grass braid around her some more and tried again.

She thought for a second, trying to remember everything Aphrodite had told her, and added, "With the power of Nyx's elements, and through the energy of this sacred grass, I call the white bull from the old days to my circle because I need to know how to help Stark so he can get to Zoey so that he can protect her while she finds a way back together and back to this world."

The sweet grass that had been gently smoking until then turned red-hot.

With a cry, Alena dropped it. Thick, black smoke billowed from the sizzling braid, like it was a snake belching darkness.

Pressing her burned hand against her body, Alena stumbled back.

"Alena? What's happening?"

She could hear Montoya, but when she looked behind her she couldn't see him anymore.

The smoke was just too thick.

Alena turned around, trying to peer through the darkness at him, but she couldn't see one dang thing.

She looked where her burning earth candle should be, and it, too, had been covered by the smoke

Disoriented, she yelled, "I don't know what's happening. The sweet grass got weird and."

The earth beneath her feet began to shake.

"Alena, you need to come outta there now. I don't like all this smoke."

"Can you feel that?"she called to Montoya. "Is the ground shaking?"

"No, but I can't see you, and I got a bad feeling 'bout this."

Before Alena saw it, she felt its presence. The feeling it gave her was terrifyingly familiar and in the heartbeat of an instant, Alena understood why.

It reminded her of the moment she'd realized she was dying.

The moment she'd began to cough. The echo of that terror paralyzed Alena, so that when the tip of the first horn took form and glinted at her, white and sharp and dangerous, all she could do was stare and shake her head back and forth, back and forth.

"Alena! Can you hear me?"

Montoya's voice seemed to be miles away.

The second horn materialized, and, along with it, the bull's head began to form, white and massive, with eyes so black they glistened like a bottomless lake at midnight.

_Help me! _Alena tried to say, but fear trapped the words in her throat.

"That's it. I'm comin' in there and getting' you, even if you don't want me to break the circle and—"

Alena felt the ripple when Montoya reached the boundary of her circle. So did the bull. The creature turned its great head and snorted a gust of fetid air into the inky smoke. The night shivered in response.

"Mierda! Alena, I can't get inside the circle. Close it and get out of there!"

"I-I c-c-can't,"she stammered, her voice a broken whisper.

She barely heard Montoya let out a string of cuss words in Spanish as he tried to get in the circle.

Fully formed, the bull was a nightmare come alive. Its breath gagged Alena. Its eyes trapped her.

His white coat was luminous in the all-encompassing darkness, but it wasn't beautiful. Its brilliance was slimy, its glistening surface cold and dead.

One of the beast's enormous cloven hoofs lifted and then fell, tearing the earth with such malice that Alena felt an echo of the pain of the wound within her soul. She ripped her gaze from the bull's eyes to stare down at his hooves.

She gasped in horror. The grass around the beast was broken and blackened. Where he had pawed the earth the ground was torn and bleeding.

"No!"The dam of terror broke enough for her words to finally escape. "Stop! You're hurting us!"

The bull's black eyes bored into hers. The voice that filled her head was deep and powerful and unimaginably malicious.

""_You had the power to evoke me, vampyre, and that has amused me enough that I choose to answer your question. The Warrior must look to his blood to discover the bridge to enter the Isle of Women, and then he must defeat himself to enter the arena. Only by acknowledging one before the other will he join his Priestess. After he joins her, it is her choice and not his whether she returns."_

Alena swallowed her fear and blurted, "That doesn't make sense."

"_Your inability to comprehend has no bearing on me. You summoned. I answered. Now I shall claim my blood price. It has, indeed, been eons since I tasted the sweetness of vampyre blood—especially one filled with so much innocent Light." _

Before Alena could begin to form any kind of response, the beast started to circle her.

Tendrils of darkness slithered from the smoke surrounding him and began to snake their way toward her.

When they touched her, they were like frozen razor blades slicing, tearing, ripping her flesh.

Without conscious thought, she screamed one word: "Rephaim!"


	23. Rephaim 23

Rephaim knew the instant Darkness materialized.

He'd been sitting on the rooftop balcony, eating an apple, staring up at the clear night sky _and _trying to ignore the annoying presence of the human ghost that had developed an unfortunate fascination with him.

"_Come on, tell me! Is it really fun to fly?" _The young spirit asked for what Rephaim thought was probably the hundredth time._"It looks like it‟d be fun. I never got to, but I‟ll bet flying with your own wings is way more fun than flying in an airplane any day." _

Rephaim had sighed. The child talked more than Alena, which was pretty impressive. Irritating, but impressive.

He was trying to decide if he should continue to ignore her and hope she'd finally go away, or come up with an alternative plan, as ignoring the girl didn't appear to be working.

He'd thought perhaps he should ask Alena what to do about the ghost, which had turned his mind to the daughter of the Red One. Though, truth be told, his thoughts were never far from her.

"_Is it dangerous to fly? I mean with your wings? I guess it must be because you got hurt, and I‟ll bet that was from flying around . . ." _

The child had been babbling when the texture of the world changed. In that first, shocking moment, he felt the familiarity and believed, for the space of a heartbeat, that his father had returned.

"Silence!"he roared at the ghost. He stood and whirled around, glowing red eyes glaring into the dark land surrounding him, hoping beyond words that he could glimpse the raven blackness of his father's wings.

The ghost child made a shocked squeak, cringed away from him, and disappeared.

Rephaim gave her absolutely no thought. He was too busy being barraged with knowledge and emotions.

First came knowledge. He knew almost immediately that it wasn't his father he'd sensed.

Yes, Kalona was powerful, and he had long allied himself with Darkness, but the disturbance this immortal was making in the world was different; it was far more powerful.

Rephaim could sense it in the excited response of the dark hidden things of the earth, sprites that this modern world of man"made light and electronic magick had forgotten.

But Rephaim had not forgotten them, and from the deepest of the night's shadows, he saw ripples and quivers, and was baffled by their reaction.

What could be powerful enough to arouse the hidden sprites?

Then Alena's fear hit him. It was the rawness of her complete terror coupled with the excitement of the sprites, and that instant of initial familiarity, that provided Rephaim with his answer.

"By all the gods, Darkness itself has entered this realm!"Rephaim was moving before he'd made a conscious decision to do so.

He burst out of the front doors of the dilapidated mansion, knocking them aside with his uninjured arm as if they were made of cardboard, only to come to a halt on the wide front porch.

He had no idea of where he should go.

Another wave of terror engulfed him. Experiencing it with her, Rephaim knew Alena was paralyzed by her fear.

A horrible thought filled his mind: _Had Alena conjured Darkness? How could she? Why would she? _

The answer to the most important of the three questions came as quickly as he thought it.

Alena would do almost anything for the Red One if she believed it would bring Zoey back.

Rephaim's heart thundered, and his blood pumped hard and fast through his body. Where was she? The House of Night?

No, surely not. Were she to set about conjuring Darkness, it wouldn't be at a school devoted to Light.

"Why didn't you come to me?"he shouted his frustration into the night. "I know Darkness; you do not!"

But even as he spoke, he admitted to himself that he was wrong.

Alena had been touched by Darkness when she had died. He hadn't known her then, but he'd known Stark and had witnessed for himself the Darkness that surrounded the death and resurrection of a fledgling.

"She chose Light, though."He spoke softly this time. "And Light always underestimates the viciousness of Darkness."

_The fact that I live is an example of that. _

Alena needed him tonight, badly. That was also a fact.

"Alena, where are you?"Rephaim muttered.

Only the restless stirrings of the sprites answered him.

Could he coax a sprite into leading him to Darkness?

"No" he discarded the idea quickly. Sprites would go to Darkness if it called them.

Other than that, they much preferred to feed off vestiges of power from afar. And he couldn't afford to wait around hoping Darkness would call them. He needed to figure out—

"_REPHAIM!" _

Alena's scream echoed eerily around him. Her voice was filled with pain and despair. The sound of it sliced through his heart.

He knew his eyes blazed red. He wanted to rip and tear and destroy. The haze of scarlet rage that began to overwhelm him was a seductive escape.

If he gave into anger completely, he would, indeed, become more beast than man, and this unusual, uncomfortable fear he had begun to feel for her would be drowned out by instinct and mindless violence, which he could appease by attacking the helpless humans in any of the dark houses surrounding the lifeless museum.

For a while he would be sated. For a while he would not feel.

And why not give in to the rage that had so often consumed his life? It would be easier—it was familiar––it was safe.

_If I give in to rage, it will be the end of this connection I have with her. _

The thought sent ripples of shock through his body. The ripples turned to bright specks of light that seared the red haze that shrouded his sight.

"No!"he cried, letting the humanity of his voice beat back the beast within him. "If I abandon her to Darkness, she dies."

Rephaim drew long, slow breaths. He had to calm down. He had to think. The red haze continued to dissipate, and his mind began to reason again. _I have to use our connection and our blood! _

Rephaim forced himself to be still and breathe in the night. He knew what he must do.

He drank in one more deep breath, and then began: "I call upon the power of the spirit of ancient immortals, which is mine by birthright to command."

Rephaim steeled himself for the drain that the invocation would cause on his unhealed body, but as he drew power from the shadows of the night, he was surprised to feel a surge of energy.

The night around him seemed swollen, throbbing with raw and ancient power. It gave him a sick sense of foreboding, but he used it all the same, channeling the power through him, preparing to charge it with the immortality carried in his blood, the blood that Alena now shared.

But as it filled him, his body was consumed in energy so fierce, so raw, that it knocked Rephaim to his knees.

His first hint that something miraculous was happening was when he realized that he'd automatically thrown both of his hands forward to catch himself—and both arms responded, even the one that had been broken and bound to his chest with a sling.

Rephaim stayed there on his knees, trembling and holding both arms out before him. His breath was coming fast as he flexed his hands.

"More!"he hissed the word. "Come to me!"

Dark energy surged into him again, a live current of cold violence he struggled to contain.

Rephaim knew this indwelling was different than any he'd felt before when calling on the powers his father's blood allowed him to access, but he was no callow youth.

He had long trafficked with shadows and the base things that filled the night. Reaching deep within him, the Raven Mocker inhaled the energy, like the air of a midwinter's night, and then he threw his arms wide at the same instant he unfurled his wings.

Both wings responded to him.

"Yes!"His joyous shout caused the shadows to writhe and quiver in ecstasy.

He was whole again! The wing was completely healed!

Rephaim leaped to his feet. Dark pinions completely extended, he looked like a magnificent sculpture of a godling, suddenly come to life.

His body vibrating with power, the Raven Mocker continued the invocation. The air blazed scarlet as if a phosphorous mist of blood surrounded him. Swollen with borrowed Darkness, Rephaim's voice rang in the night.

"Through the immortal might of my father, Kalona, who seeded my blood and spirit with his legacy, I command this power that I wield in his name to lead me to the daughter of the Red One—she who has tasted my blood, and with whom I have Imprinted and exchanged life debts. Take me to Alena! I command it so!"

The mist hovered for a moment, then shifted, and like a ribbon of scarlet silk, a thin, glistening path unfurled into the air before him.

Swift and sure, Rephaim took to the sky and streaked after the beckoning Darkness.

He found her not far from the museum in a park shrouded by smoke and death.

As he dropped silently from the sky, Rephaim wondered how the humans in the houses framing the area could be so oblivious to what had been loosed just outside the deceptive safety of their front doors.

The pool of black smoke was most concentrated in the heart of the park. Rephaim could just make out the top branches of a sturdy old oak under which chaos reigned.

He slowed as he drew near it, though his wings were still spread around him, tasting the air and allowing him to move soundlessly and swiftly, even on the ground.

The fledgling didn't notice him. But Rephaim realized that the spanish boy probably wouldn't have noticed the arrival of an army. All of his attention was focused on attempting to stab a long, lethal looking knife through what appeared to be a circle of darkness that had coalesced into a solid wall—or at least that was how it manifested to the fledgling.

Rephaim was not a fledgling; he understood Darkness much better.

He skirted around the boy and, unseen, faced the circle at its northernmost point. He wasn't sure if instinct or Alena's influence drew him there, and acknowledged—though briefly—that the two might be becoming one.

He paused, and with a single, reluctant motion, closed his wings, folding them neatly against his back.

Then he held up his hand and spoke softly to the scarlet mist that was still his to command. "Cloak me. Allow me to cross the barrier."

Rephaim curled his fist around the pulsing energy that gathered there, and then, with a flick of his fingers, scattered the mist over his body.

He expected the pain of it. Though there were aspects of immortal power that obeyed him, the obedience never came without a price.

Very often that price was paid in pain.

This time the pain burned through his newly healed body like lava, but he welcomed it because it meant his bidding had been done.

There was no way to make ready for what he might find within the circle. Rephaim simply gathered himself and, covered by the inherited strength of his father's blood, he stepped forward. The wall of darkness opened to him.

Inside the circle Rephaim was engulfed in the scent of Alena's blood and the overwhelming odor of death and decay.

"Please stop! I can't stand it anymore! Kill me, kill me! It hurts too much."

He couldn't see her, but Alena sounded utterly defeated. Acting quickly, Rephaim scooped some of the clinging scarlet mist from his body.

"Go to her—strengthen her," he whispered the command.

He heard Alena gasp and was almost sure she cried his name.

Then the darkness parted to reveal a sight Rephaim would never forget, even should he live to be as ancient as his father.

Alena stood in the middle of the circle. Tendrils of sticky black threads wrapped around her legs.

Wherever they touched her, they sliced her skin. Her skirt and shirt were ripped and hung on her body only in shreds.

Blood seeped from her torn flesh.

As he watched, another tendril snaked out of the soupy darkness surrounding them and lashed, whiplike, around her waist, instantly drawing a weeping line of blood.

She moaned in pain, and her head lolled. Rephaim saw that her eyes had gone blank. It was then that the beast made itself known.

The instant he saw it, Rephaim knew beyond all doubt that he was staring at Darkness given form. It snorted, a terrible, deafening sound.

Spewing blood and mucus and smoke, the bull tore the earth with his hooves.

The creature stalked to Alena from out of the densest of the black smoke. Like moonlight in a crypt, the white bull's coat looked like death as he towered over the girl.

The creature was so massive that he had to dip his huge head to allow his tongue to lick at her bleeding waist.

Alena's scream was echoed by Rephaim's cry: "No!"

The great bull paused. His head turned to the Raven Mocker; his bottomless gaze held Rephaim's.

"_This night gets more and more interesting._"

The voice rumbled through his mind.

Rephaim forced down his fear as the bull took two steps toward him, shaking the ground as he scented the air.

"_I smell Darkness on you." _

"Yes," Rephaim spoke over the sound of the terrified beating of his heart. "I have long lived with Darkness."

"_Odd, then, that I do not know you."_The bull scented the air around him again._"Though I have known your father." _

"It is through the power of my father's blood that I parted the dark curtain and stand before you."

He kept his eyes on the bull, but he was utterly aware that Alena was just feet away from him, bleeding and helpless.

"_Is it? I think you lie, birdman." _

Though the voice in his mind didn't change, Rephaim could feel the bull's anger.

Staying calm, Rephaim scooped a finger down his chest, drawing a line of red mist from his body. He held his hand up, like an offering to the bull. "This allowed me to part the dark curtain of the circle, and this power is mine to command by right of my father's immortal blood."

"_That immortal blood flows through your veins is truth. But the power that swells your body and commanded my barrier to part is borrowed from me." _

Fear skittered down Rephaim's spine. Very carefully, he bowed his head in respect and acknowledgment. "Then I thank you, though I did not call upon your power. I invoked only my father's, as it is only his that is rightfully mine to command."

"_I hear the truth in your words, son of Kalona, but why command the power of immortals to draw you here and to allow you within my circle? What business do you or your father have with Darkness tonight?" _

Rephaim's body went very still, but his mind raced. Until that moment in his life, he had always drawn strength from the legacy of immortality within his blood and the cunning of the raven that had been joined with it to create him.

But this night, facing Darkness, swollen with a strength that was not his own, he suddenly knew that even though it was through this creature's power that he had been granted access to Alena, he would not save her by using Darkness, whether it came from the bull or from his father; nor could the instincts of a raven battle the beast he faced.

Forces allied with it could not defeat this bull––this embodiment of Darkness.

So Rephaim drew on the only thing left to him—the remnants of humanity passed to him through his dead mother's body.

He answered the bull like a human, with honesty so raw that he thought it might cleave his heart.

"I'm here because she's here, and she belongs to me." Rephaim's eyes never left the bull, but he jerked his head in Alena's direction.

"_I scent her on you." _The bull took another step toward Rephaim, causing the ground under them to shake._"She may belong to you, but she had the impudence to invoke me. This vampyre requested my aid, which I granted her. As you know, she must pay the price. Leave now, birdman, and I will allow you to live." _

"Go, Rephaim, Please go." Alena's voice was weak, but when Rephaim finally looked at her, he saw that her gaze was unwavering and lucid. "This isn't like the rooftop. You can't save me from this. Please, just go, please."

Rephaim should go. He knew he should. Only a few days before he couldn't even have imagined a world where he would be facing down Darkness to attempt to save a vampyre—to attempt to save anyone except himself or his father.

Yet as he stared into Alena's soft green eyes, what he saw was a whole new world—a world in which this strange little red vampyre meant heart and soul and truth.

"Please. I don't want him to hurt you. Please." she told him.

It was those words—those selfless, heartfelt, truthful words that made Rephaim's decision for him.

"I said she belongs to me. You scent her on me; you know it's true. So I can pay her debt for her," Rephaim said.

"No!"Alena cried.

"_Think carefully before you make such an offer, son of Kalona. I will not kill her. It is a blood debt, not a life debt, she owes me. I will return your vampyre to you, eventually, when I am done tasting of her." _

The bull's words sickened Rephaim.

Like a bloated leech, Darkness was going to feed from Alena. He was going to lick her slashed skin and taste the copper saltiness of her lifeblood—of _their _lifeblood, joined forever because of their Imprint.

"Take my blood instead. I'll pay her debt," Rephaim said.

"_You are your father's son. Like him, you have chosen to champion a being who can never give you what it is you seek most. So be it. I accept payment of the vampyre's debt from you. Release her!" _the bull commanded.

The razorlike threads of darkness withdrew from Alena's body and, as if they had been the only things keeping her on her feet, she crumbled to the blood soaked grass.

Before he could move to help her, a dark tendril, cobra like, lifted from the smoke and shadows

surrounding the bull.

With a swiftness that was otherworldly, it lashed out, wrapping around Rephaim's ankle.

The Raven Mocker didn't scream, though he wanted to. Instead, focusing through the blinding pain, he shouted at Alena, "Get back to the House of Night!"

He saw Alena try to stand, but she slipped on her own blood and lay on the ground, crying softly.

Their eyes met, and Rephaim lurched toward her, spreading his wings, determined to break from the clinging thread and at least carry her clear of the circle.

Another tendril snaked out and whipped around the thick bicep of Rephaim's newly healed arm, slicing more than an inch into the muscle.

Yet another came from the shadows behind him, and Rephaim couldn't help screaming in agony as the thing curled around his wings where they met his back, ripping and tearing and pinning him against the ground.

"Rephaim!"Alena sobbed.

He couldn't see the bull, but he felt the earth tremble as the creature approached him.

He turned his head, and, through a blur of pain, he saw Alena trying to crawl toward him. He wanted to tell her to stop—to say something to her that would make her run away.

Then, as the searing pain of the bull's tongue touched the wound at his ankle, Rephaim realized Alena wasn't really trying to crawl to him. She was on her hands and knees, crablike, pressing down against the earth. Her arms were trembling, and her body was still bleeding, but her face was getting its color back and she was moving her lips.

_She's pulling power from the earth with the help of the goddess, _Rephaim realized with an incredible sense of relief.

That would make her strong enough to get out of the circle and find her way to safety.

"_I'd forgotten the sweetness of immortal blood._"The bull's decayed breath washed over Rephaim.

"_The vampyre's blood held only a hint of this. I believe I will drink and drink from you, son of Kalona. You did, indeed, borrow power from Darkness tonight, so you have a greater debt to pay than just hers._"

Rephaim refused to look at the creature.

Held captive by the cutting threads, his body was lifted and turned so that his cheek pressed against the earth.

He kept his gaze focused on Alena as the bull stood over him and began to drink from the wound at the base of his bleeding wings.

Agony like he'd never before felt assaulted his body. He didn't want to scream. He didn't want to writhe in pain. But he couldn't help it.

Alena's eyes were all that kept him tethered to consciousness as Darkness fed from him, violating him over and over again.

When Alena stood, lifting her arms, Rephaim thought he was hallucinating because she looked so strong and powerful and so very, very angry.

She clutched something in her hand—a long braid that was smoking.

"Nyx let me do it before. I'll do it again."

Alena's voice came to him as if from a long way off, but it sounded strong, too.

Rephaim wondered why the bull didn't hear her and stop her, but the creature's moans of pleasure and the piercing pain that radiated from his back gave Rephaim the answer.

The bull didn't consider Alena a threat, and he was fixated on consuming the intoxicating blood of immortality.

_Let him keep taking from me; let her escape, _Rephaim prayed silently to whichever of the gods might deign to hear him

"My circle's unbroken,"Alena was speaking quickly and clearly.

"Rephaim and this disgusting bull came at my command. So I command again, through the power of the elements with Nyx's help, I call the _other _bull. The one who fights this one, and I'll pay whatever I have to, just get this thing off MY Raven Mocker!"

Rephaim felt the creature above him pause in his feeding as a bolt of light speared through the smoky blackness in front of Alena. He saw Alena's eyes go wide and, miraculously, she smiled and then laughed.

"Yes!"she spoke joyously. "I'll pay your price!"

Still standing over him, the white bull growled.

Tendrils began snaking from the darkness around Rephaim and slithering toward Alena. Rephaim opened his mouth to shout a warning, but Alena stepped directly into the shaft of light.

There was a sound like a thunderclap, and then another blinding flash.

From the middle of the bright explosion stepped an enormous bull, as black as the first was white. But this creature's darkness wasn't like that of the inky shadows that cringed away from it.

This bull's coat was the black of a midnight sky filled with the radiance of diamond stars—deep and mysterious and beautiful to behold.

For an instant, the black bull's gaze met Rephaim's, and the Raven Mocker gasped. He'd never seen such kindness in his life; he'd never even known such kindness could exist.

"_Do not let her have made the wrong choice." _The new voice in his mind was as deep as the first bull's had been, but filled with a wealth of compassion._ "Because whether you are worthy or not, she has paid the price_."

The black bull lowered his head and charged the white bull, hurling it off Rephaim's body.

There was a deafening crash as the two met, and then a silence so deep it, too, was deafening.

The tendrils dissipated like dew from the summer sun. Alena was on her knees, reaching for him, when the smoke vanished, and the fledgling ran into the circle, knife raised and ready.

"Get back, Alena! I'm gonna fucking kill it!"

Alena touched the ground, and murmured, "Nyx, let earth trip him. Hard. Please!"

Over Alena's shoulder, Rephaim saw the ground rise up right in front of the boy's feet, and the wiry fledgling fell down face first—hard.

"Can you fly?"she whispered.

"I think so," he murmured back.

"Then get back to the Gilcrease," she said urgently. "I'll come to you later."

Rephaim hesitated.

He didn't want to leave her so soon after they'd been through so much together.

Was she really well, or had Darkness taken too much from her?

"I'm okay. Promise,"Alena told him softly as if reading his mind. "Go on."

Rephaim stood. With one last look at Alena, he unfurled his wings and forced his battered body to carry him into the sky.


	24. Alena 24

Montoya was half carrying, half dragging Alena around the corner of the school, arguing with her about going to the infirmary instead of just back to her room, when Kramisha, Lenobia, and Stevie Rae who were walking toward Nyx's Temple, caught sight of them.

"Sweet weeping baby Jesus, you is messed up!" Kramisha yelled, stumbling to a halt.

"Alena! What the heck happened to you!" Stevie Rae yelled as she caught sight of her changed Vampyre who was no longer a fledgling.

"Montoya, let's get her to the infirmary!" Lenobia said. Unlike Kramisha, she didn't freeze at the bloody sight of Alena; instead, she hurried to her other side and helped Montoya support her weight, automatically angling them toward the infirmary entrance.

"No! Just take me to my room. I need a phone, not a doctor."

"You can't find it because that bird thing ripped almost all your clothes off of you, along with your skin. Your cell's probably back at the park smooshed in the ground that's still soaked with your blood. You're goin' to the damn infirmary." Montoya released a string of cuss words in Spanish where she understood very little.

"I have a phone. You can use mine," Kramisha said, catching up to them.

"You can use Kramisha's phone, but Montoya is right. You can't even stand by yourself. You're going to the infirmary," Stevie Rae said firmly.

"Fine. Get me to a chair so I can make a call."

As they headed into the infirmary, Lenobia's sharp gaze kept returning to Alena's battered body.

"You're in bad shape. Again," she said. Then Montoya's words seemed to catch up with her, and the Horse Mistress's gray eyes widened in shock. "Did you say a bird did this?"

"Bird _thing_," Montoya said at the same time Alena said, "No!"

"Montoya, I do not have the time or the energy to argue with you 'bout this right now."

"You mean you didn't see what happened to her?" Stevie Rae asked.

"No. There was too much smoke and darkness; I couldn't see her, and I couldn't get into the circle to help her. And when it all cleared she was like this and a bird thing was crouching over her."

"Montoya, he was lying on the ground next to me."

Stevie Rae started to speak, but they'd reached the infirmary, and Sapphire, the tall, blond nurse who had been promoted to head of the hospital in the absence of a Healer, greeted them with her usual sour expression, which quickly changed to shock.

"Put her in there!" she ordered briskly, pointing into a newly emptied hospital-style room.

They laid Alena on the bed, and Sapphire started to yank stuff out of one of the metal cabinets. One of the things she grabbed was a baggie of blood she tossed to Stevie Rae. "Make her drink this immediately."

No one said anything for the few seconds it took for Stevie Rae to rip open the blood bag and help support Alena's shaking hands as she held it to her mouth and drank greedily.

"I need some more of that," Alena said.

"I need to see what's sliced up your body like that, made you lose entirely too much blood, which you need to replace right away, and figure out why the blood that's still dripping out of your body smells completely wrong," said Sapphire.

"Raven Mocker! That's the name of that thing," Montoya said.

"A Raven Mocker attacked you?" Stevie Rae said.

"No. Darkness attacked me _and _a Raven Mocker."

"And like I said, you're not making no damn sense. I saw that bird thing. I saw your blood. These definitely look like slash wounds from that beak of his. I didn't see anything else!" Montoya practically shouted.

"You didn't see anything because Darkness was covering everything inside the circle, including me and the Raven Mocker while it attacked _both of us _!" Alena yelled her frustration at him.

"Why does it sound like you keep standing up for that thing?" Montoya said, throwing up his hands.

"You know what, Montoya, believe whatever the fuck you want ! I'm not standing up for anyone except _myself _. It's not like you could manage to get inside the circle to help me out—I had to do it _myself _!"

There was a long silence while Montoya stared at her with hurt clearly visible in his eyes, and then Sapphire spoke in her sharp, shitty bedside voice,

"Montoya, you need to leave. I'm going to cut what's left of these clothes off her, and it's not appropriate for you to be in here."

"But I—"

"You've brought her back to her High Priestess. You did well," Lenobia told him, touching his arm gently. "Now let us care for her."

"Montoya, I'll be fine," Alena said, already sorry she'd taken out on him the frustration fear and guilt were making her feel.

"Yeah, all right. I'm goin'." He left while still cussing in Spanish.

"Hey, she's right," Alena called after him as he slouched from the room. "Thank you for bringing me home."

He glanced over his shoulder at her just before he closed the door, and she thought she'd never seen his eyes look so sad. "Anything for you, mujer."

The door had barely closed behind him when Lenobia's voice shot out. "Explain about the Raven Mocker."

"Yeah, I thought they was all gone," Kramisha said.

"Alena, tell us what happened before I slap you silly like a newborn puppy in a county farm." Stevei Rae said angrily,

"The three of you may stay. Margareta has gone to replenish our supplies from St. John's Hospital, so I can use the extra hands, but you'll have to talk while you help me," Sapphire told them, handing Stevie Rae another bag of blood.

"Open this for her. Kramisha, go over there, wash your hands, and then start handing me those alcohol-soaked cotton balls."

Kramisha shot Sapphire a raised-brow look, but she went to the sink.

Stevie Rae ripped open the bag and gave it to Alena, who drank slowly, buying herself some time.

With a ripping sound that seemed too loud for the room, Sapphire cut away what remained of Alena's shirt and her favoriteT-shirt.

Alena felt everyone's eyes staring at her mostly bare body.

Alena realized that she was, truly, feeling better. The blood had warmed her, and she didn't feel nearly as weak as she had just minutes before.

Actually, she was kinda buzzing inside, like her blood was pumping super strong and surging all throughout her body.

_It‟s Rephaim‟s blood—the part of it that's mixed with mine is feeding off the human blood and giving me power. _

"Alena, you seem to be awake and aware," Lenobia said.

Alena refocused on her external world to find the Horse Mistress studying her carefully. "Yeah, I'm feeling better, and I need a phone. Kramisha…"

"I'm cleaning these wounds first, and I promise you that you're not going to be able to chat on the phone while I do that," Sapphire said with what Alena thought was too much smug satisfaction.

"So wait. I really need to speak with her," Alena said.

"It can_not _wait," Sapphire snapped. "Your wounds are severe. You have lacerations from your ankles to your waist. They need to be cleansed. Many of them need stitches. You need to drink more blood. Actually, it would be preferable if we brought in one of the human volunteers for you to feed from directly—that would help in the healing process."

"Humans? Volunteers." Stuff like that went on at the House of Night?

"Don't be naïve," was all Sapphire said.

"I'm not drinking from anyone!" Alena said with more vehemence than she'd meant to show, drawing raised-eyebrow looks from everyone. "I'll be fine with blood baggies."

Alena was thinking that the only one she wanted to drink from, needed to drink from, was Rephaim.

"Your blood smells wrong," Stevie Rae said.

Alena's thoughts cleared, and her gaze went immediately to her High Priestess. "Wrong? What do you mean?"

"There is something strange about it," Sapphire agreed as she began cleaning the deep slashes with the alcohol-drenched cotton balls Kramisha handed her.

Alena sucked in a breath at the pain. Through gritted teeth, she said, "I'm a red vampyre. My blood's different than yours."

"Nope, they's right. Your blood smells weird," Kramisha said, averting her eyes from Alena's wounds and wrinkling her nose.

Alena thought quickly, and said, "It's because he drank from me."

"Who? The Raven Mocker!" Lenobia said.

"No!" Alena denied, then hurried on. "the Raven Mocker didn't do anything to me. He was a victim, too."

"Alena, what happened to you?"Stevie Rae asked.

Alena drew a deep breath and launched into a mostly true story. "I went to the park to get info from that would help Zoey because Aphrodite thinks can help Stark get himself to Zoey in the Otherworld."

"But Stark can't enter the Otherworld without dying," Lenobia said.

"Yeah, that's what everyone says, but recently Aphrodite, Stevie Rae and I found out about this really old stuff that might help him get there alive. The religion was supposed to be represented by bulls. A white one and a black one."

Remembering, Alena shuddered. "Aphrodite failed to tell me the _white _bull was bad and the _black _bull was good, so I called up the bad bull accidentally."

Stevie's Rae face had gone so pale it almost looked transparent. "Oh, Goddess! You evoked Darkness?"

"You know about this stuff?" Alena asked.

In what seemed like an unconscious movement, one of Lenobia's hands lifted to touch the back of her neck. "I know a little of Darkness, and as Mistress of Horses, I know more than a little about beasts."

Sapphire swabbed at the cut that snaked around Alena's waist, making her wince. "Ouch! that hurts!" She closed her eyes momentarily, trying to focus through the pain.

When she opened them, she saw that Lenobia was studying her with an expression she couldn't read, but before she could form the right question, the Horse Mistress asked one of her own.

"What was the Raven Mocker doing there? You said it didn't attack you, but it certainly wouldn't have any reason to attack Darkness."

" 'Cause they on the same side," Kramisha added, nodding thoughtfully.

"The bad bull attacked the Raven Mocker." Alena drew a deep breath, and continued, "Actually, the Raven Mocker saved me. He fell from the sky and distracted the bull long enough for me to draw power from the earth with Nyx's help so I could call up the good bull."

Alena couldn't help smiling as she talked about that amazing beast. "I'd never seen anything like it. He was so beautiful and kind and so, so wise. He went after the white bull, and both of them disappeared. Then Montoya was able to get inside the circle to me, and the Raven Mocker flew away."

"But what you're saying is that before the Raven Mocker got there, the white bull drank your blood?" Stevie Rae said.

Alena had to suppress another shudder of remembered revulsion. "Yeah. He said I owed him payment because he answered my question. That's why my blood smells weird, because you can still smell him on me. And that's also why I need to make that phone call. The bull _did _answer my question, and I have to talk to Aphrodite."

"You might as well let her call. She don't need them stitches anyway. Her cuts are closing up already," Kramisha said, pointing to the first slashes Darkness had made around her ankles.

Alena glanced down, but she knew what she'd see before she looked. She'd already felt it—Rephaim's blood was spreading its warmth and strength throughout her body, causing her torn flesh to begin drawing together and repair itself.

"That's incredibly unusual. And much like the rapid rate at which you healed from your burn wounds," Sapphire said.

Alena made herself meet the vampyre nurse's gaze. "I'm a red vampyre. We must heal fast." She flipped the edge of the sheet over her body and then held her hand out to Kramisha. "I need your phone now."

"No," Stevie Rae said.

"But I…"

"_You _will tell _me _what the bull said before I make the call. I need to hear what he said so I can tell Aphrodite."

Without another word, Alena told Stevie Rae everything the bull said as Kramisha dug out her cell phone, and gave it to Stevie Rae. "Aphrodite's listed under the B's."

Alena punched in the number. Aphrodite picked up on the third ring.

"Yes, it is too damn early to call, and no, I do not care about whatever stupid poem you just wrote, Kramisha."

"It's me."

Aphrodite's sarcastic tone instantly changed. "What happened?"

"Did you know the white bull's bad and the black bull's good?"

"Yeah. Didn't I tell you that part?" Aphrodite said.

"No, which really sucked 'cause I called the _white _bull to my circle."

"Uh-oh. That's seriously not good. What happened?"

"Not good? Try understatement of the dang decade, Aphrodite. It was bad. Really, _really _bad." Alena wanted to tell Lenobia and Sapphire and even Kramisha to go away so she could talk to Aphrodite in private, and then maybe have a really good breakdown and bawl her eyes out; but she knew they needed to hear what she had to say. Sadly, bad stuff didn't go away just because it was ignored. "Aphrodite, it's evil like nothing I've seen before. It makes Neferet look like a trick-or-treat kid." She ignored Sapphire's indignant snort and kept talking quickly. "And it's powerful beyond belief. I couldn't fight it. I don't think anything can fight it except the other bull."

"So how did you get away from it?" Aphrodite paused for half a heartbeat, and then added, "You _are _away from it, aren't you? You're not all under its spell so that you're being used like a sock puppet for evil with a bumpkin accent, right?"

"That's just silly, Aphrodite."

"Still, say something to prove you're really you."

"You called me a retard last time we talked. More than once. And said I was asstarded, which is not even a word. I'm still tellin' you that's not nice."

"Fine. It's you. So how did you get away from the bull?"

"I managed to call up the good bull, and he is as really,_really _good as the other one is bad. He fought it, and they both disappeared."

"So you didn't learn anything?"

"Yeah, I did." Alena squinted while she concentrated hard, wanting to be sure she remembered word for word what the white bull had said. "I asked how Stark could get to Zoey so that he can protect her while she gets herself together and comes back here. This is what the bull said:_„The Warrior must look to his blood to discover the bridge to enter the Isle of Women, and then he must defeat himself to enter the arena. Only by acknowledging one before the other will he join his Priestess. After he joins her, it is her choice and not his whether she returns.‟ " _

"He said Isle of Women? Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah, I'm positive. That's exactly what he said."

"Good. Okay. Uh, hang on, I'm writing this all down so I don't forget any of it."

Alena could hear Aphrodite scribbling on a piece of paper. When she was done, her voice was filled with excitement. "This means we are on the right track! But how the hell does Stark find a bridge by looking at blood? And what does that stuff about him having to defeat himself mean?"

Alena sighed. A massive headache had started to throb between her temples. "I don't have a clue, but getting that answer almost killed me, so it has to mean somethin' important."

"Then Stark better figure it out." Aphrodite hesitated before saying, "If the black bull is so super good, why don't you just call it back again and—"

"No!" Alena spoke with such force she caused everyone in the room to jump. "Never again. And you shouldn't let anyone else conjure either of those bulls. The price is too much."

"What do you mean, the price is too much?" Aphrodite said.

"I mean they're too powerful. They can't be controlled, whether they're good or bad. Aphrodite, there're some things that weren't meant to be messed with, and those bulls are part of those things. Plus, I'm not so sure one can be called up without the other eventually showing up, and believe me, you don't want to ever, _ever _meet that white bull."

"Okay, okay—relax. I get what you're saying, and I can tell you I have a kinda creepy feeling just talking about those bulls. I think you're right. Don't stress. No one's gonna do anything except try to help Stark find a blood bridge to the Isle of Skye."

"Aphrodite, I don't think it's a blood bridge. That doesn't even sound right." Alena rubbed her face and was surprised to see that her hand was shaking.

"Enough for now," Lenobia whispered. "You're strong, but you're not immortal."

Alena's gaze shot to hers, but she saw nothing in the Horse Mistress's gray eyes except concern.

"Hey, uh, I gotta go for now. I'm not feelin' so good."

"Oh, for crap's sake. You're not almost dying again, are you? It's seriously inconvenient when you do that."

"No, I am not almost dyin'. Not anymore. And you are not even almost nice. At all. I'll call you later. Tell everyone I said hi."

"Yeah, I'll spread the love. Goodbye, bumpkin."

"Bye." Alena punched the CALL END button, gave Kramisha her phone, and then leaned heavily back on her pillow. "Uh, do y'all mind if maybe I sleep for a while?"

"Drink one more of these." Sapphire gave Alena another bag of blood. "Then sleep. Both of you need to leave and let her rest." The vampyre nurse swept the bloody alcohol cotton balls into

a trash bag, snapped off her latex gloves, went to the doorway, and stood, tapping her foot and giving Lenobia and Kramisha the stank eye.

"I'll come back and check on you after you've rested," Lenobia said.

"Sounds good." Alena smiled at her.

Lenobia squeezed her hand before leaving. When Kramisha leaned close to her, Alena thought for one awkward, shocked second the kid was going to hug her—or worse, maybe even kiss her. Instead, Kramisha met her eyes and whispered:

"_See with the soul and not your eyes _

_because to dance with beasts you _

_must penetrate their disguise." _

Alena suddenly felt cold. "I guess I should have listened to you better. Maybe I would've known I was callin' the wrong cow," she whispered back.

Kramisha's gaze was sharp and knowing. "Maybe you still should. Somethin' inside me says you ain't done dancing with beasts." Then she straightened up, and in a normal voice, said, "Get some sleep. You gonna need all your good sense tomorrow."

When the door closed, leaving her alone, Alena breathed an exhausted sigh of relief. Methodically, she drank the last baggie of blood and then pulled the hospital blanket up around her neck and curled on her side and, with a sigh, slowly twirled a blond curl around and around one finger. She was utterly exhausted. Apparently all of the power in Rephaim's blood had worn her the heck out while it fixed her.

Rephaim . . .

Alena would never, ever forget what he looked like when he'd confronted Darkness for her. He'd been so strong and brave and _good_. It didn't matter that Montoya and Lenobia and the whole dang world believed he was on the side of Darkness. It didn't matter that his daddy was a fallen Warrior of Nyx who had chosen evil centuries ago. None of that mattered. She'd seen the truth. He'd willingly sacrificed himself for her. He might not have chosen Light, but he had definitely rejected Darkness.

She'd been right to save him that day outside the abbey, and she'd also been right to call the white bull and save him today—no matter the cost to her.

Rephaim was worth saving.

Wasn't he?

He had to be. After what had happened today, he_had to be _.

Her finger stilled, and her eyes started to flutter shut even though she didn't want to think anymore or to dream—didn't want to remember that terrifying Darkness and the pain that had been so unimaginable.

But her eyes did close, and the memory of Darkness and what he'd done to her did come. As she struggled against the unyielding pull of utter exhaustion, from the middle of that circle of terror Alena heard his voice again:_"I‟m here because she‟s here, and she belongs to me." _And that simple statement chased her fear away, allowing the memory of Darkness to give way to the rescue of Light.

Just before Alena fell into a deep, dreamless sleep, she thought of the beautiful black bull and the payment he had exacted from her, and, again, Rephaim's words played through her mind:_"I‟m here because she‟s here, and she belongs to me." _

With her last waking thought, she wondered if Rephaim would ever know how ironically true his words had suddenly become for them . . .


	25. Alena 25

"No, I'm not going to let him get you!" Dragon shouted. Along with everyone else in the Council Chamber, Alena stared at the Sword Master, who looked like he might be getting ready to pop a major blood vessel.

"Who?"Alena said.

"That Raven Mocker who killed my mate! That's why you can't go out alone until we track that creature down and destroy it."

Alena tried to ignore the hollow feeling Dragon's words gave her and the horrible sense of guilt she experienced as she faced him, seeing his heartbreak and knowing that even though Rephaim had saved her life, twice, it was also a fact that he had killed Anastasia Lankford.

_He‟s changed. He‟s different now, _she thought, wishing she could say the words aloud and not bring her world crashing down around them.

But she couldn't tell Dragon about Rephaim. She couldn't tell anyone about the Raven Mocker, so instead she began, again, to weave lies with the truth, forming a terrible tapestry of evasion and deceit.

"Dragon, I don't know which Raven Mocker was there in the park. He didn't tell me his name."

"I think he was the head one—the Ref-whatever," Montoya spoke up, even though Alena shot him a _look _.

"Rephaim," Dragon said, with a voice like death.

"Yeah, that's it. He was huge, just like you guys described, and his eyes really were human-looking. Plus, he had a thing about him. It was obvious he thought he was the shit."

Alena stifled the urge to press her hand firmly over Montoya's mouth—and maybe nose, too. Smothering him would definitely make him stop talking.

"We don't know who that Raven Mocker was. And, Dragon, I can understand why you're worried and all, but I just want go to the Benedictine Abbey so that Grandma Redbird hears about Zoey from me since I spent a lot of time with her ."

"But Dragon does have a good point," Lenobia said. Erik and Professor Penthasilea nodded, their disagreements about Neferet and Kalona temporarily put aside. "This Raven Mocker did appear where you were, while you were communing with earth."

"It's too simplistic to say she was communing with the earth," Dragon spoke quickly into Lenobia's pause. "As Alena explained to us, she was dialoguing with ancient powers of good and evil. That creature appearing during the manifestation of evil cannot be a coincidence."

"But the Raven Mocker didn't attack me…"

Dragon lifted a hand to silence her. "Undoubtedly it was drawn to the Darkness, which then turned on one of its own as evil often does. You cannot know with certainty that the creature isn't after you."

"We also cannot know with certainty that there is only one Raven Mocker in Tulsa," Lenobia said.

Panic fluttered in Alena's stomach.

What if everyone was so freaked-out about the possibility of a bunch of Raven Mockers stalking around Tulsa that they made it impossible for her to get away to see Rephaim?

"I'm going to see Grandma Redbird," Alena said firmly.

"Do not underestimate the danger of that creature," Dragon said, his voice sad and somber.

"I won't.'she added hastily.

"I don't think we should say much about Zoey's condition," Erik said. "At least not until something more, well, permanent happens."

"She's not gonna die," Stevie Rae said.

"I don't want her to die!"Erik said quickly, looking obviously upset at the thought. "But what with the stuff that's gone on around here lately, including a Raven Mocker showing up, the last thing we need is a bunch of talk."

"How about we agree on a compromise," Lenobia said. "Answer questions about Zoey when they're asked, focusing on the truth—that we're all working to get her back from the Otherworld."

"And we issue a general warning through all homeroom classes for fledglings to be watchful and vigilant in reporting anything they see or hear that might be unusual," Dragon added.

"That sounds reasonable," Penthasilea said.

"All right, that seems good to me, too," Stevie Rae said. Then she paused before adding, "Uh, I'm just wonderin', but am I supposed to go back to the classes I was in before?"

"Yeah, I's wondering that, too." Kramisha said.

"Me too," Dallas said.

"Fledglings should attend classes, taking up where they left off," Lenobia said smoothly, smiling at Kramisha and Montoya

Then she turned to Alena. "Vampyres choose their career paths and the areas they'd like to study—not in class with fledglings but with other vampyres who are experts in their field. Do you know what it is you'd like to study?"

Even with everyone gawking at her, Alena had no hesitation in her answer. "Nyx. I want to study to better understand the functions of the Red Vampyres."

"And you, High Priestess?" Lenobia asked.

"Nyx. I want to study to be a High Priestess. I want to be one because I've earned it, and not just 'cause I'm the only dang red vamp female in the known universe."

"But we have no High Priestess under which you may study—not since Neferet was driven away," Penthasilea said, giving Lenobia a pointed look.

"Then I guess I'll study with Alena until we get our High Priestess back." She met Penthasilea's eyes, and added, "And I can promise you that High Priestess will not be Neferet."

Alena stood. "Okay,well, I'm going to go to the abbey."

Everyone had started to shuffle out of the room when Dragon pulled her aside. "I want you to promise me that you will be cautious," he said. "You have powers of recovery that border on miraculous, but you are not immortal, Alena. You must remember that."

"I'll be careful. I promise."

"I'm goin' with her," Kramisha said. "I'll keep an eye to the sky for them nasty bird things. And I got me a girl scream that is deadly. If one shows up, I can make sure the whole world knows he there."

Dragon nodded but didn't look convinced, and Alena was relieved when Lenobia called him over to her and started a conversation with him about making his martial arts classes mandatory for all fledglings.

She slipped out of the room and was trying to figure out how she could get rid of Kramisha, who was being way too sticky-boogerish, when Montoya caught up with them.

"Can I talk to you for a sec before you leave?"

"I'll be in the hummer,"Kramisha said. "And no, you can't get outta takin' me."

Alena watched her march down the hall before she reluctantly turned to Montoya.

"Can we go in there?"he asked, pointing to the deserted media center.

"Sure, but I have to go."

Without saying anything, Montoya opened the door for her, and they stepped into the cool, dim room that smelled like books and lemon furniture polish.

"You and me, we don't have to be together anymore," Montoya said, all in a rush.

"Huh? Don't have to be together? What do you mean?"

Montoya crossed his arms over his chest and looked super uncomfortable. "I mean we were goin' out. You were my girlfriend. You don't want to be anymore, and I get it. You were right, I couldn't do shit to protect you from that bird thing. And I just want you to know I'm not gonna turn into an asshole about you and me. I'll still be here for you when you need me, mujer."

"I don't want to break up!"she blurted.

"You don't?"

"No," and she didn't. At that instant, Montoya was all she could see, and his heart and his goodness were so obvious that Alena felt like losing him would be like getting punched in her gut.

"Montoya, I'm so sorry for what I said before. I was hurt and mad, and I didn't mean it. I couldn't even get out of the circle. There's no way you, or anyone else, not even a Warrior, could've gotten in there to me."

Montoya met her gaze. "That Raven Mocker got in there."

"Well, like you said yourself, he's on the side of Darkness," she said, even though his bringing up Rephaim was like throwing cold water in her face.

"There's a lot on the side of Darkness out there," Montoya said. "And a bunch of it seems to be running into you. So, be careful, will ya, mujer?"He reached out and brushed back her side wept bangs from her face. "I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you." He let his hand rest on her shoulder. His thumb gently caressed the line of her neck.

"I'll be careful," she said softly.

"You really don't want to break up?"

She shook her head.

"I'm glad, 'cause I don't want to either."

Montoya leaned down as he pulled her into his arms. His lips met Alena's in a hesitant kiss. She told herself to relax and melted into him.

He was a good kisser—he always had been. And she liked that he was taller than her, but not crazy tall. He tasted good, too.

He knew that she liked her back rubbed, so as he slipped his arms around her his hands went under her shirt—not to try to maul her boobs, like most guys would have.

Instead, Montoya started to rub soft, warm circles over her lower back, pressing her closer to him and deepening their kiss.

Alena kissed him back. It felt good to be with him . . . to block out everything . . . to forget for even a little while about Rephaim and all that stuff . . . especially about the debt she'd willingly paid that made her—

Alena pulled away from Montoya. They were both more than a little breathless. "I have to go." Alena smiled at him, trying not to sound as awkward as she felt.

"Actually, I'd kinda forgotten," Montoya said, smiling sweetly at her and brushing those stubborn bangs out of her eyes again. "But I know you need to go. Come on. I'll walk you to the Bug."

Feeling part traitor, part liar, and part doomed prisoner, Alena let him take her hand and lead her to the car, just like they were truly boyfriend and girlfriend again.


	26. Alena 26

"That boy's gone on you," Kramisha said, as Alena pulled out of the school's parking lot, leaving behind Montoya, who was looking more than kinda pitiful. "You know what you gonna do 'bout that other kid?"

Alena braked the car in the middle of the blacktop that led to Utica Street. "I'm too stressedto even think about other guys."

"Not dealing with guy stuff just causes more stress."

"Bye, Kramisha."

"If you gonna act all crazy, then I won't say nothin' about it. Right now. Anyway, I got other more important stuff that you need to deal with."

Alena put the hummer into gear and kept driving off campus though she wished Kramisha would press her about the guy stuff so she'd have an excuse to leave her behind, too.

"Remember when you told me to think harder 'bout my poems and such to try to get somethin' that might help Zoey?"

"Of course I remember."

"Well, I did. And I got somethin'." She dug around in her huge bag until she brought out a well-worn notebook with pages that were her signature purple color. "I think everbody, including me until I focused myself, is forgetting 'bout this."

She opened the notebook and waved a page with her cursive print at Alena.

"Kramisha, I'm driving. Just tell me what you remembered."

"The poem I wrote right before Zoey and the rest of the kids took off for Venice. The one that sounds like it's from Kalona to Zoey. Here, I'll read it to ya:

_A double-edged sword _

_One side destroys _

_One releases _

_I am your Gordian knot _

_Will you release or destroy me? _

_Follow truth and you shall: _

_Find me on water _

_Purify me through fire _

_Trapped by earth nevermore _

_Air will whisper to you _

_What spirit already knows: _

_That even shattered _

_anything is possible _

_If you believe _

_Then we shall both be free. _

"I _had _totally forgotten about that! Okay, read it again, only slower." Alena listened closely while Kramisha read the poem again. "It has to be from Kalona? That part about being trapped by the earth makes it definitely from him."

"I'm practically sure it's from him to her."

"It must be,"

"It says, 'then we shall both be free,' " Kramisha quoted.

"It sounds like Zoey might get free from the Otherworld."

"And so will Kalona," Kramisha added.

"We'll deal with that when it happens. Getting Zoey free is what's most important. What was the part about water?"

"It says: 'Find me on water.' "

"And she did. San Clemente Island is definitely on water."

"It also says that Zoey has to 'follow truth.' What do you think that means?"

"The last time Stevie Rae talked to Z, she told her to follow her heart, no matter that it might seem to everyone else in the world that she was messing up royally, just follow what everything inside her said was the right thing to do." Alena paused,"She felt real guilty about saying that because of what happened to her right afterward."

"But maybe you was right. Maybe what's happenin' to Z is supposed to happen, 'cause I'm thinkin' to follow your heart and to hold on to what you believe is right, even when everybody else says you're dead-assed wrong, is a powerful kind of truth."

Alena felt a flutter of excitement. "And if she keeps holding to the truth she has in her heart, the end of the poem _will _happen, and she'll be free."

"It feels right to me, Alena. Real right, like down deep in my bones."

"Me, too," Alena said, grinning at Kramisha.

"Okay, but Z needs to know all this. The poem is like a map to the end. The first step, findin' him on water, already happened. Next she has to—"

"Purify him through fire," Alena broke in, remembering the line. "And then something about earth and air?"

"Yeah, and spirit. It's all five of the elements."

"All of Zoey's affinities, ending in spirit, which is her most powerful affinity."

"And the one in charge of the realm she's in right now," Kramisha said. "Okay, I ain't gonna say this just 'cause I wrote me a kick-ass poem, so you gotta seriously listen up: Zoey has to know this stuff. It's gonna make the difference between her comin' back and her being killed dead by whatever's goin' on over there."

"Okay."

"Then how you gonna do it?"

"I'm not. But Stark's will. He has to—that disgusting bull said so."

"You want me to call Stark and read the poem to him? You got his number?"

Alena thought about it. "No. Aphrodite told Stevie Rae that Stark's head is seriously messed up right now. He might ignore you."

"Well, he'd be wrong."

"Yeah, I agree. So, what we need to do is get the poem to Aphrodite."

"And 'cause she's so hateful, there's no way she'll let Stark ignore her or the poem."

"Exactly. Text it to her right now and tell her that Stark has to memorize it for Zoey. And to remember it's a prophecy, not just a poem."

"You know, I seriously question her amount of good sense 'cause she don't like poetry."

And while Alena pulled into the newly plowed parking lot of the Benedictine Abbey, Kramisha bent her head over her phone and got busy texting.


	27. Alena 27

Right away, Alena could tell that Grandma Redbird was getting better.

The terrible bruises on her face had faded, and instead of being in bed, she was sitting in a rocking chair by the fireplace in the abbey's main lounge, so into the book she was reading that she didn't even notice Alena at first.

"_Blue-Eyed Devil?" _Even though she was there to tell Zoey's grandma awful news, Alena couldn't help smiling as she read the title. "Grandma, that sounds like a romance book to me."

Grandma Redbird's hand went to her throat. "Alena! Child, you startled me. And it is a romance—an excellent one at that. Hardy Cates is a magnificent hero."

"Magnificent?"

Grandma lifted her sliver brows at Alena.

"I'm old, child. Not dead. I can still appreciate a magnificent man."

She motioned to one of the padded wooden chairs not far away.

"Pull that up, honey, and let's have a chat. I'm assuming you have news of Zoey all the way from Venice. Just think of it—Venice, Italy! I would love to visit . . ."

The old woman's voice trailed off as she looked more closely at Alena.

"I knew it. I knew something was wrong, but my mind has been so muddled since the accident."

Sylvia Redbird went very, very still. Then, in a voice that was rough with fear, she said, "Tell me quickly."

With a sad sigh, Alena sat in the chair she'd pulled beside the rocker and took Grandma's hand.

"It's not good."

"All of it. I want all of it. Don't stop, and don't leave anything out."

Grandma Redbird held on to Alena's hand as if it were a life-line as she told her everything—from Heath's death to the bulls to the present and Kramisha's prophetic poem, leaving out only one thing: Rephaim.

When she was finished, Grandma's face had gone as pale as it had been right after her accident, when she'd been in a coma and near death.

"Shattered. My granddaughter's soul is shattered," she said slowly, as if the words carried thick layers of grief all their own.

"Stark's gonna get to her, Grandma." Alena met the old woman's gaze steadily. "And then he's gonna help her pull herself together."

"Cedar," Grandma said, nodding like she'd just answered a question, and Alena should be agreeing with her.

"Cedar?" Alena asked, hoping the news about Zoey hadn't made Grandma lose her mind. Literally.

"Cedar needles. Tell Stark to make whoever watches over his body while he's in the trance state to burn them the entire time."

"You just lost me, Grandma."

"Cedar needles are powerful medicine. They repel asgina, which are considered the most malevolent of spirits. Cedar is only used during times of dire need."

Alena was relieved that the color was starting to come back into Grandma's cheeks.

"Tell Stark to breathe the smoke deeply, and to think about carrying it with him to the Otherworld—to believe it will follow his spirit there. The mind can be a powerful ally of the spirit. Sometimes our minds can even alter the very fabric of our souls. If Stark believes the cedar smoke can accompany his spirit, it might just do so and add an extra layer of protection to him on his quest."

"I'll tell him."

Grandma squeezed her hand even tighter. "Sometimes things that seem small or insignificant can aid us, even in our most difficult hour. Don't discount anything and don't let Stark, either."

"I won't, Grandma. None of us will. I'll be sure of it."

"Sylvia, I just spoke with Kramisha outside," Sister Mary Angela hurried into the room. She came to a halt when she saw Alena holding the old woman's hand.

"Oh, Mother Mary! It is true then." The nun bowed her head, obviously fighting tears, but when she lifted her chin, her eyes were dry, and her face was set in strong, resolute lines.

"Well, then, we shall go on from here." Abruptly, she turned and began to leave the room.

"Sister, where are you going?" Grandma Redbird asked.

"To call the abbey to the chapel. We will pray. We all will pray."

"To Mary?" Alena asked, unable to keep the skepticism out of her voice.

The nun nodded, and in her firm, wise voice said, "Yes, Alena, to Mary—to the Lady we consider to be mother in spirit of us all. Perhaps she isn't the same deity as your Nyx; perhaps she is. But is that question really important right now? Tell me, daughter of Nyx, do you truly believe asking for help in the name of love to be a mistake, no matter what face that help is wearing?"

Alena had a flash of Rephaim's face with his human eyes as he stood up to Darkness and took on the debt she owed it, and her mouth suddenly went dry.

"I'm sorry, Sister. I was wrong."

Sister Mary Angela looked into Alena's eyes for what seemed like a very long time before saying,

"You may join us in prayer, child."

Alena smiled at her. "Thanks, but I have something else to do."


	28. Alena 28

"Hell no I ain't gonna lie for you!" Kramisha said.

"I'm not telling you to lie," Alena said.

"Yah you is. You want me to say you're all involved in checking out the tunnel with Sister Mary Angela. Everbody already knows you totally sealed it up last time you was here."

"Not everyone knows that," Alena said.

"Yeah, they do. Plus, the nuns is all prayin' for Zoey, and it don't seem right at all to use a prayin' nun in your lie."

"Fine. I'll go down to the tunnel and check it out if it makes you feel better." Alena couldn't believe Kramisha was making such an issue out of telling a little white lie for her that she was costing her time—time away from Rephaim when Goddess only knew how hurt he was from that disgusting white bull. She remembered the agony she'd felt when Darkness had fed from her and knew it had been doubly bad for Rephaim.

This time she was gonna have to figure out more to do than just bandaging him and feeding him to make him better.

How badly had he been hurt? In her mind's eye, she could still see that creature looming over him, tongue red with his blood while––

With a jolt, Alena realized Kramisha had just been standing there, staring at her without saying anything.

Alena mentally shook herself .

"Tell me the truth 'bout what you up to."

"I'm gonna go see the guy, and I don't want anyone to know about it!" Alena blurted.

Kramisha cocked her head to the side. "That's more like it. He ain't a fledgling or a vamp, is he?"

"No," Alena said with absolute honesty. "He's someone no one would like."

"He ain't abusing you, is he? 'Cause that's some wrong shit, and I know some females who been caught up in it and can't get their way out."

"Kramisha, no guy would ever hit me. Ever."

"So that means he a human and he married."

"He's not married," Alena evaded.

"Huh," Kramisha snorted through her nose. "Is he an asshole?"

"I don't think he is."

"Love sucks."

"Yep," Alena said. "But I'm not in love with him," she added hastily.

"He's messin' with your head, and you do not need that right now." Kramisha pursed her lips up, thinking. "Okay, how 'bout this: I get one of the nuns to take me back to the House of Night, and when everbody stresses 'bout you bein' out here all alone, I just tell them you needed to visit a human, so you ain't technically alone—and I ain't lying, either."

Alena thought about it. "Are you telling them it's a human guy?"

"I'll just say human and say they need to mind they own business. I'll only say guy if someone asks me specifically."

"Deal," Alena said.

"You know you gonna have to come clean about him sooner or later. And if he ain't married, there's really no issue. You can have a human mate."

It was Alena's turn to snort. "And you think Montoya will be okay with that?"

"He will be if he wants to be with you. All vampyres know that."

"Well, Montoya isn't a vampyre yet, so it might be a little much to ask of him. I know it'll hurt his feelings, and I don't want to do that."

Kramisha nodded. "I can tell you don't, but I think you makin' too much of this. Montoya will have to learn to deal. What you need to figure out is if this human guy is worth it."

"I know that. I'll see you at the House of Night in a little while." Alena started to walk quickly toward the car

"Hey!" Kramisha called after her. "He ain't black, is he?"

Thinking of Rephaim's night-colored wings Alena paused and looked over her shoulder at Kramisha.

"Why?"

"It make a lot of difference if you're ashamed of him," she shot back.

"No. He's not black. And, no, I wouldn't be ashamed of him if he was."

"Just checkin'."

"Crazy," Alena muttered as she turned back to the parking lot.

"I heard that," Kramisha said.

"Good!" Alena yelled.

She got into the car and headed toward the Gilcrease Museum.


	29. Rephaim 29

When Rephaim opened his eyes, he saw Alena squatting in front of his closet nest, studying him so intently that there was a deep furrow on her brow between her eyes, making her Red Crescent tattoo look oddly wavy.

Her bangs spilled around her face, and she seemed so girl-like that he was suddenly taken aback by remembering how young she really was.

The thought of her vulnerability had fear knifing his heart.

"Hey! You awake?" she said.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked in a purposefully gruff voice, annoyed that just the sight of her could make him worry about her safety.

"I wanted to see if you're okay."

"My father's an immortal. I'm hard to kill." He made himself sit up without grimacing.

"Yeah, I know about your daddy and your immortal blood and all, but Darkness fed from you. That can't be good. Plus, you look really bad."

"You don't," he said. "And Darkness fed from you, too."

"I'm not as hurt as you because you saved me like batman. _And _that immortal blood of yours is like the Energizer Bunny inside me."

"I am not a bat," was all he could think to say, as that was the only thing she'd said he vaguely understood.

"I didn't say you were. I said you were like Batman. He's a superhero."

"I'm not a hero, either."

"Well, you've been my hero. Twice."

Rephaim didn't know what to say to that. All he knew was that Alena calling him her hero made something twist deep inside him, and that something suddenly made the pain in his body and his worry for her easier to bear.

"So, come on. Let's see if I can return the favor. Again." She stood and held her hand out to him.

"I don't think I could eat right now. Some water would be good, though. I drank all that we'd brought up here before."

"I'm not taking you the kitchen. We're going outside to the trees."

"Why?"

"I already told you. You helped me So, I'm helping you. Stevie Rae told me trees have major power in them."

But his body did ache. More than that. His blood felt too hot. With every beat of his heart, searing pain pumped through him, and at the spot where his wings met his spine, where the bull of Darkness had fed from him, violated him, his back was blazing agony.

And she thought a tree would fix what Darkness had wrought?

"I think I'll stay here. Rest will help. So will water. If you want to do something for me, get the water I asked for."

"Nope." Alena reached down and, with that strength that always surprised him, grabbed both of his hands and pulled him to his feet. She kept her supporting hold on him while the room pitched and rolled around him, and he thought, for one terrible moment, that he was going to collapse like a fainting girl.

Thankfully, the moment passed, and he was able to open his eyes without fear of making an even bigger fool of himself.

He looked down at Alena. She was still holding his hands.

_She doesn't shrink away from me in disgust. She hasn't from the first day. _

"Why do you touch me with no fear?" he heard himself asking before he could stop the words.

She gave a little laugh. "Rephaim, you've saved my life twice, and we're Imprinted. I'm not scared of you."

"Perhaps the question should have been why do you touch me with no repulsion?" Again, the words came almost without his permission. Almost.

Her brow furrowed like before, and he decided he liked to watch her think.

Finally, she shrugged, and said, "I don't know. I think it's impossible a vampyre to be repulsed by someone they're Imprinted with. I mean, Stevie Rae was Imprinted with Aphrodite before she drank Dallas's blood. But they grew on each other after they Imprinted. Not in a sexual way, though."

Then Alena's eyes widened like she realized all of what she'd said, and the word "sexual" seemed to be a tangible presence in the room.

She let loose of his hands as if they burned her.

"Can you walk downstairs by yourself?" Her voice sounded strange and abrupt.

"Yes. I'll follow you. If you really think a tree can help."

Alena turned her back on him and headed for the stairs. "Oh, thank you for saving me. Again. You didn't have to." Her words were hesitant, like she was having trouble picking exactly what she wanted to say to him.

"He said he wasn't going to kill me."

"There are things worse than death," Rephaim said. "What Darkness can take from someone who walks with Light can change your soul."

"And what about you? What did Darkness take from you?" she asked, still not looking at him, as they reached the bottom floor of the old mansion, but she slowed down so that he could keep up with her more easily.

"He didn't take anything from me. He just filled me with pain and then fed on that pain mixed with my blood."

They'd reached the front door, and Alena paused, looking up at him. "Because Darkness feeds on pain and Light feeds on love."

Her words tripped a mental switch inside him, and he studied her more closely.

_Yes, _he decided, _she is keeping something from me. _"What price did Light demand from you for saving me?"

Alena was unable to meet his eyes again, which gave him an odd, panicky feeling. He thought she wasn't going to answer him at all, but finally, in a voice that sounded almost angry, "Do you want to tell me about everything that bull demanded from you when he was feeding from you, and standing over you, and basically molesting you?"

"No," Rephaim answered without hesitated. "But the other bull—"

"No," Alena echoed him. "I don't want to talk about it, either. So let's just forget it and hope I can fix some of this pain Darkness left inside you."

Rephaim walked with her out onto the icy front lawn, which was pathetic in its dilapidation and a sad, broken reflection of its opulent past.

As Rephaim followed her, moving slowly to try to compensate for the terrible pain that was making him so weak, he wondered about the payment Light could have demanded from Alena.

Clearly, it was something unnerving—something that made Alena reluctant to speak of it.

He kept stealing glances at her when he thought she wouldn't notice. She appeared healthy and totally recovered from her brush with Darkness.

Actually, she looked strong and whole and completely normal.

But, as he was all too aware, appearances could easily deceive.

Something was wrong—or at the very least, something about the debt she'd paid Light made her uncomfortable.

Rephaim was so busy trying to be stealthy about studying her that he almost ran into the tree she'd stopped beside.

She looked at him and shook her head. "Stop staring at me. I'm fine. "

"Have you talked to her?"

Alena's frown deepened. "No, I haven't talked to my momma."

"You should."

"I don't want to talk about my momma right now."

"As you wish."

"Don't use that tone with me."

"What tone?"

Instead of answering him, she said, "Just sit down and be quiet so I can think about how I'm going to help you."

Alena sat down, cross-legged, with her back against the old cedar tree that wept ice and fragrant needles all around them. When he still didn't move, she made an impatient noise and motioned to the space in front of her. "Sit," she ordered.

He sat.

"And now?" he asked.

"Hold on, I have to think."

He watched her twirl one of the strands on her bangs around her finger and scrunch up her forehead for a while, and then he offered, "Would it help to think about what you did when you tripped that annoying fledgling who thought he could challenge me?"

"Montoya isn't annoying, and he thought you were attacking me."

"Good thing I wasn't."

"And why is that?"

Even through the pain in his body, her tone amused him.

She knew very well that puny fledgling had been no threat to him, even in his weakened condition.

Had Rephaim been attacking her, or anyone else, the impotent youth couldn't have stopped him.

Still, the boy had been Marked by a red crescent, which meant he was one of her and his Alena was nothing if not fiercely loyal.

So Rephaim bowed his head in acquiescence, and said only, "Because it would have been inconvenient if I'd had to defend myself."

Alena's lips curved up in the hint of a smile. "Montoya really did think he was protecting me from you."

"You don't need him." Rephaim spoke the words without thinking.

Alena's gaze met his and held. He wished he could read her expressions more easily.

He thought he saw surprise in her eyes, and maybe a faint glint of hope, but he also saw fear—of that he was sure.

Fear of him?

No, she'd already proven she wasn't afraid of him. So the fear had to be within, of something that wasn't him but that he'd triggered.

Alena blinked a couple of times, as if clearing away too many thoughts, and then she shrugged, and said, "Yeah, it took a lot of convincing everybody back at the House of Night that it was just a coincidence that you dropped from the sky at the same time Darkness manifested, and that you _weren't _attacking me. Knowing there's a Raven Mocker still in Tulsa has made it hard for me to get away from school alone."

"I should leave." The words made him feel strangely empty inside.

"Where would you go?"

"East," he said without hesitation.

"East? Rephaim, your daddy's not in his body. You can't help him by going over there right now. I think you can help him more by staying here and working with me to bring both Zoey and him back."

"You don't want me to leave?"

Alena looked down as if studying the earth they sat on. "It's hard for a vampyre to have the person she's Imprinted with too far away from her."

"I'm not a person."

"Yeah, but that didn't stop us from Imprinting, so the rules still apply to you and me."

"Then I'll stay until you tell me to go."

She closed her eyes as if the words had hurt her, and he had to force himself to remain still and not reach out to comfort her, to touch her.

_Touch her? I want to touch her? _

He crossed his arms over his chest in a physical denial of the shocking thought.

"Earth," he said, his voice sounding too loud in the silence that had fallen between them. She looked up at him then with a question in her eyes.

"You called it before, when you tripped the red fledgling. You called it to open so that you could escape from the sunlight on the rooftop. You called it to close the tunnel behind me at the abbey. Can you not simply call it now and make your request of it?"

Her gentle blue eyes widened. "You're right!" She held her hands out, palms up.

"Here, grab hold."

It was too easy for him to unfold his arms and press his palms to hers. He looked down at their joined hands, and he suddenly realized that, except for Alena, he'd never touched a human for any reason except violence.

Yet there he was, touching her again—gently—calmly.

Her skin felt good against his. She was warm. And soft. Her words came to him then, and what she was saying moved inside him, nesting there in a distant place that had never before been touched.

"Nyx, I have a big favor to ask you. Rephaim is special to me. He's in a lot of pain,. Nyx, I know I ask you too many times for your help with the element Earth, I've borrowed your strength before—to save myself—to save those I care about. This time Nyx, I'm asking to borrow your strength to help Rephaim. It's only right." She paused and looked up at him. T

Their eyes met as she echoed the words he'd spoken to Darkness when he thought she'd been unable to hear him.

"He's hurt because of me. Heal him. Please."

The ground beneath them quivered.

Rephaim was thinking it was strangely like the skin of a twitching animal when Alena gasped, and her body jerked.

Rephaim started to pull away, wanting to stop whatever was happening to her, but she held tightly to his hands, saying "No! Don't let go. It's fine."

Then heat radiated from her palms into his. For an instant it reminded him of the last time he'd called on what he believed to be the immortal power of his father's blood, and Darkness had answered instead—pulsing through his body and healing his shattered arm and wing.

But quickly Rephaim understood that there was an essential difference between being touched by Darkness and being touched by the earth.

Where before the power had been raw and consuming, swelling him with energy and shooting through his body, now what filled him was like a summer's wind beneath his wings.

Its presence in his body was no less commanding than Darkness had been, but it was power tempered with compassion—it's infilling was living and healthy and growing instead of cold and violent and consuming. It was balm to his overheated blood, soothing the pain that pulsed through his body.

When the earth's warmth reached his back—that raw, unhealed place where his great wings grew—the relief was so instantaneous that Rephaim closed his eyes, breathing a long sigh as the agony evaporated.

And, throughout the healing, the air around Rephaim was filled with the heady, comforting scent of cedar needles and the sweetness of summer grass.

"Think about sending the energy back into the earth." Alena's voice was gentle, but insistent. He started to open his eyes and let loose her hands, but again she held tight to him, saying,

"No, keep your eyes shut. Just stay like you are, but imagine the power from the earth as a glowing green light that's coming from the ground under me, up through my body and hands, to you. When you feel like it's done its job, envision it pouring from your body back into the earth."

Rephaim kept his eyes closed, but asked, "Why? Why let it leave me?"

He could hear the smile in her voice. "Because it's not yours. You can't own this power. It belongs to the earth and Nyx. You can only borrow it, and then send it back with a thank you."

Rephaim almost told her that was ridiculous—that when you've been given power, you don't let it go.

You keep it and use it and own it.

He _almost _said it, but he couldn't. Those words seemed wrong while he was getting filled with earth energy.

So instead, he did what felt right. Rephaim imagined the energy that filled him as a glowing green shaft of light, and envisioned it pouring down his spine and back into the earth from which it had come.

And as the rich warmth of earth drained from him, he spoke two words very softly, "Thank you."

Then he was himself again. Sitting under a big cedar tree on damp, cold ground, holding Alena's hands. Rephaim opened his eyes.

"Better now?" she asked.

"Yes. Much better." Rephaim opened his hands, and this time, she, too, pulled away.

"You do look better. There isn't any pain in your eyes anymore."

He stood up, eager to show her, and opened his arms, unfurling his massive wings as if he were flexing a muscle. "See! I can do this with no pain."

She was sitting on the ground staring up at him, wide-eyed. The look on her face was so odd that he automatically lowered his arms and folded his wings against his back.

"What is it?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"I—I'd forgotten that you flew to and from the park.." She made a sound that could have been a laugh had it not sounded so choked.

"How could I have forgotten something like that?"

"I suppose you got used to seeing me broken," he said, trying to understand why she suddenly seemed so withdrawn from him.

"What fixed your wing?"

"The earth," he said.

"No, not now. It wasn't broken when we came out here. The pain you were filled with didn't have anything to do with that."

"Oh, no. I've been healed since last night. The pain was caused by the remnants of Darkness and what he did to my body."

"So how did your wing and your arm get fixed last night?"

Rephaim didn't want to answer her.

As she stared at him with those wide, accusing eyes, he found himself wanting to lie—to tell her it had been a miracle wrought by the immortality in his blood. But he couldn't lie to her. He _wouldn‟t _lie to her.

"I called on powers that are mine to command through my father's blood. I had to. I heard you scream my name."

She blinked, and he saw realization flash through her gaze. "But the bull said you'd been filled with his power and not your daddy's."

Rephaim nodded. "I knew it was different. I didn't know why. Nor did I understand I was getting power directly from Darkness himself."

"So, darkness healed you?"

"Yes, and then the earth healed me from the wound Darkness left inside me."

"Okay, well, good." She stood abruptly and brushed off her skirt. "You're better now, so now I have to go."

She started to walk quickly past him, and he reached out to grab her wrist.

Alena flinched away from him.

Rephaim's hand dropped instantly to his side, and he took a step away from her.

They stared at each other.

"I have to go," she repeated.

"Will you return?"

"I have to! I promised!" She yelled the words at him, and he felt them as if she'd slapped him.

"I release you from your promise!" he yelled back at her, angry that this small female could cause such turmoil within him.

Her eyes were suspiciously bright when she said, "It's not you I promised—so you can't release me."

Then she swept past him, her head turned away so he couldn't see her face.

"Do not return because you have to. Return only because you want to," he called after her.

Alena didn't pause and didn't look back at him.

She simply left.

Rephaim stood there a long time. When the sound of her car faded away, he finally moved.

With a cry of frustration, the Raven Mocker ran and then launched himself into the night sky, beating the cold wind with his massive wings and heading up, up to find the warmer thermals that would lift him, hold him, carry him anywhere—everywhere.

_Just away! Take me away from here! _

The Raven Mocker swooped to the east, away from the direction Alena's car had taken—away from Tulsa and the confusion that had entered his life since _she'd _entered his life. Then he closed his mind to everything except the familiar joy of the sky, and flew.


	30. Stevie Rae 30

Stevie Rae didn't expect Lenobia herself to be waiting outside her door.

"Look, I just needed some time by myself. "

"On the evening news there was a bulletin about a gang break-in at the Tribune Loft apartments. Four people were killed. Their throats were cut out, and they were partially drained of blood. The only reason the police are not on our doorstep accusing us is the report from several witnesses who all swear it was a gang of human teenagers. With Red eyes."

Stevie Rae swallowed down the sick taste of bile in the back of her throat.

"It was the red fledglings I left at the depot. They messed with the witnesses' memories, but none of them are Changed, so they don't have the ability to cover up everything."

"They couldn't wipe those blazing red eyes from the humans' memories," Lenobia said, nodding in agreement.

"Dragon hasn't gone after them, has he?"

"No. I've kept him busy with small groups of fledglings. He's already started going over self-defense skills with them in case of another attack from Raven Mockers."

"Lenobia, Alena seriously said it was a fluke. I'll bet he's miles away from Tulsa by now."

"I'm much more concerned about the rogue red fledglings."

"Me, too." Stevie Rae was eager to change the subject. "The news report said the people had only been partially drained of their blood?"

Lenobia nodded. "Yes, and their throats were ripped out—not cut or bitten and then bled as you or I would feed."

"They aren't feeding. They're playing. They like terrorizing people; it's a kind of high for them."

"That's truly an abomination of Nyx's ways." Lenobia's words came fast; her voice filled with anger.

"Those from whom we feed should only feel our mutual pleasure. That is why the Goddess gave us the ability to share such a powerful sensation with humans. We don't brutalize and torture them. We appreciate them—we make them our consorts. The High Council has even banished vampyres who misuse their power over humans."

"You haven't told the High Council about the red fledglings, have you?"

"I wouldn't do that without discussing it with you first. You are their High Priestess. But you must understand that their actions have taken them beyond where they can be ignored by the rest of us."

"I know, but I still want to deal with them myself."

"Not alone again. Not this time," Lenobia said.

"You're right about that. What they did today shows me how dangerous they are."

"Should I call Dragon in on this?"

"No. I'm not goin' alone, and I do plan on givin' them an ultimatum—shape up or ship out—but if I take outsiders down there, I won't have a chance of any of them deciding to give up Darkness and come with me."

Then Stevie Rae realized what she'd said and stopped like she'd run into the side of a barn.

"Oh my good_ness,_that's it! I couldn't have known it before Alena met the bulls, but now I understand. Lenobia, whatever it is that gets ahold of us after we die, and then un-die, and we're all evil and filled with bloodlust and stuff—it's part of Darkness. That means it isn't a new thing. It has to be as ancient as the Warrior/bull religion. Neferet is behind what happened to me and the rest of the kids."

She met the Horse Mistress's gaze and saw the fear she was feeling reflected there. "She's involved with Darkness. There's no doubt about that now."

"I'm afraid there's been no doubt about that for a long time," Lenobia said.

"But how the heck did Neferet find out about Darkness? For centuries and centuries, vampyres worshipped Nyx."

"Just because people stop worshipping, doesn't mean the deity stops existing. The forces of good and evil move in a timeless dance, regardless of mortal whim or fashion."

"But Nyx is _the _Goddess."

"Nyx is _our _Goddess. You can't really believe there is only one deity for a world as complex as ours."

Stevie Rae sighed. "I guess when you put it like that, I gotta agree with you, but I wish there wasn't more than one choice for evil."

"Then there would be only one choice for good. Remember, there must always, eternally, be balance." They walked in silence for a while before Lenobia said, "You'll take the red fledglings with you to confront the rogues?"

"Yep."

"When?"

"The sooner the better."

"There is only a little over three hours left until dawn," Lenobia said.

"Well, I'm askin' them a simple yes-or-no question. That's not gonna take much time."

"And if they say no?"

"If they say no, I'll make sure they can't use the depot tunnels as their cushy hideout anymore, and I'll make sure they're separated. As individuals, I still don't believe they're all bad." Stevie Rae hesitated, and then added, "I don't want to kill them. I feel like if I do, I'll be giving in to evil. And I don't want that Darkness to touch Alena or anyone ever again."

Lenobia nodded. "I understand. I don't agree with you, Stevie Rae, but I do understand. Your plan has merit, though. If you shake them from their stronghold and force them to scatter, those who are left will have to worry about surviving and won't have time to play' with humans."

"Okay, so let's split up and spread the word that I need all the red fledglings to meet me at the Hummer in the parking lot—now. I'll take the dorms."

"I'll go to the Field House and the cafeteria. Actually, on my way to meet you, I saw Kramisha going into the cafeteria. I'll get to her first. She always knows where everyone is."

Stevie Rae nodded, and Lenobia jogged away, leaving her alone and heading toward the dorms.

Alone and able to think.


	31. Alena 31

She couldn't get Rephaim out of her mind.

Driving away from him had been one of the hardest things she'd ever done in her life.

So why had she?

"Because he's well again," she said aloud, and then closed her mouth and looked guiltily around her.

Thankfully, there was no one nearby. Still, she kept her big mouth clamped shut as her mind continued to race.

Okay, Rephaim was healed and all. So? Had she really thought he'd be broken forever?

_No! I don‟t want him to be broken!_

The thought came quick and honest. But it wasn't just that he was well. It was that Darkness had healed him—had made him look . . .

Stevie Rae's thoughts trailed off because she didn't want to go there.

She didn't want to admit, even silently to herself, how Rephaim had looked to her standing there, framed by the moonlight, powerful and whole.

Nervously, she twirled her bangs. And anyway, they were Imprinted. He was supposed to look a certain way to her.

Stevie Rae had _liked _the way Rephaim looked. He'd been strong and beautiful and, just for a moment, she'd glimpsed beauty inside the beast, and he hadn't been a monster.

He'd been magnificent, and he'd been hers.

She staggered to a halt.

It was because of that dang black bull! It had to be.

Before he'd totally materialized, he'd asked Stevie Rae:

_I can chase away Darkness, but if I do so, you will owe a debt to Light, and that debt is that you will be forever tied to the humanity inside that creature over there—the one you called me to save._

She'd answered with no hesitation:

_Yes! I‟ll pay your price._

So the bull had zapper with her with some kind of Light, and that had done something to her insides.

But was that really the truth?

Stevie Rae twirled bangs around and around while she thought back.

No—it had changed between her and Rephaim _before _the black bull showed up.

It had happened when Rephaim had faced Darkness for her and taken on the pain of her debt.

Rephaim had said she belonged to him.

Today she'd realized he was right, and that scared her worse than Darkness itself.


	32. Stevie Rae 32

"Okay, so, we all here?"

Heads nodded and from beside her, Dallas said, "Yep, everyone's here."

"Them bad kids killed those folks at the Tribune Lofts, didn't they?" Kramisha said.

"Yeah," Stevie Rae said. "I think so."

"That's bad," Alena said. "Real bad."

"I know, mujer. I know" Monotya said wrapping an arm around her shoulder

"You can't let 'em kill people like that," Dallas said. "They're not even street people."

Stevie Rae blew out a long breath. "Dallas, how many times do I have to tell y'all that it doesn't matter if someone's a street person or not—it's not right to kill _anyone_."

"Sorry," Montoya said. "I know you're right, but sometimes _before _gets messed up inside my head, and I kinda forget."

_Before_. . . the word seemed to echo around them.

Stevie Rae knew exactly what Dallas meant: before her humanity had been saved by Aphrodite's sacrifice, and they had the ability to choose good over evil.

She remembered _before, _too, but as she got another day farther away from that dark past, it was easier and easier for Stevie Rae to put it out of her mind.

As she studied Dallas, she wondered if it was different for him—for the rest of the kids who hadn't Changed yet, because Dallas did seem to make little slips like he just had kinda often.

"Stevie Rae? You okay?" Dallas asked, obviously uncomfortable with her scrutiny.

"Yeah, fine. Just thinkin'. So, here's what's up: I'm goin' back down to the tunnels under the depot, _our _tunnels, and I'm givin' those kids one more chance to decide to act right. If they do, they stay and start back at school with us on Monday. If they don't, they're gonna have to find their own way, in their own place, 'cause we're takin' the tunnels back, and they're not welcome anymore."

Kramisha grinned. "We're goin' back to live in the tunnels!"

"Yep," Stevie Rae said, and she knew from the cheers and relieved shouts of "finally" she heard from the kids that she'd made the right decision. "I haven't talked to Lenobia about it yet, but I can't think that there's gonna be any problem with us busing back and forth from the depot to the

House of Night. We need to be underground, and even though I really like this school, it doesn't feel like home anymore. The tunnels do."

"I'm with ya, girl," Dallas said. "But we need to get somethin' straight right now. You're not gonna face those kids alone again. I'm comin' with you."

"Me, too," Kramisha said. "I don't care what kind of big story you gave everbody else, I knew them bad kids was behind you almost gettin' fried up on the roof."

"Yeah, we've all talked about it," muscle-y Johnny B said. "We're not letting our High Priestess face that shit alone again."

"Yep, same here!" Alena said

"No matter how earth-will-kick-your-ass powerful she is," Montoya said.

"I'm not goin' alone. That's why I called y'all here. _We‟re _gonna take our tunnels back, and if ass needs to be kicked, _we‟re _gonna do it," Stevie Rae said. "So, Montoya, I want you to drive the Hummer." Alena tossed him the keys. The big guy grinned at her and snatched them out of the air.

"Take Ant, Shannoncompton, Elliott, Sophie, Geraty, and Venus with you. I'll take Dallas, Alena and Kramisha in Z's Bug. Follow me—we're goin' to the lower parking lot of the depot."

"Sounds good, but how're we gonna be sure we can find those red kids? You know those tunnels are like, well, an anthill down there," said the little kid nicknamed Ant, and everyone chuckled.

"I been thinkin' 'bout that, too," Kramisha spoke up. "And I have an idea, if you don't mind me sayin' somethin'."

"Hey, that's one of the reasons I called y'all together, 'cause I need everybody's help with this," Stevie Rae said.

"Yeah, well, this is my idea: Those kids tried to kill Alena once already, right?"

Figuring there was no hiding from her fledglings, Stevie Rae nodded. "Right."

"So I figured if they tried but didn't get rid of her once, they'd want to give it another shot, right?"

"Probably."

"What would they do if they thought she was down in the tunnels again?"

"They'd come get me," Alena said.

"Then use the earth to let them know them you's there and gonna protect her. You can do that, right?"

Stevie Rae blinked in surprise. "I never thought about it before, but I bet I can."

"That's genius, Kramisha!" Dallas said.

"Totally!" Stevie Rae said. "So, hang on and let me try some-thin'." She hurried from the parking lot to the side of the school that adjoined it.

There were a couple of old oaks there, a wrought-iron bench, and a tinkling fountain surrounded by what was now an ice-encapsulated bed of yellow and purple pansies.

While her fledglings watched, she faced north and knelt on the ground in front of the biggest of the two trees.

She bowed her head and concentrated. "Come to me, earth," she whispered. Instantly, the ground around her knees warmed, and she smelled the scent of wildflowers and long, waving grass.

Stevie Rae pressed her hands against the earth she loved so much and reveled in her connection with the element.

Feeling warm and filled with the strength of nature, she said, "Yes! I know you—I can feel myself within you and you within me. Please do something for me. Please take some of this magic, this awesomeness that is us together, and pour it into the main tunnel under the depot. Let it be like I'm there, so much so that anyone who rests within you would know it."

Stevie Rae closed her eyes and imagined a glowing green bolt of energy leaving her body, traveling through the earth, and pouring into the tunnel right outside her old room in the depot.

Then, she said, "Thank you, Earth. Thank you for being my element. You can go now"

When she rejoined her fledglings, they were all staring at her with wide eyes.

"What?" she asked.

"That was amazing," Dallas said, his voice filled with awe.

"Yeah, you was green and all shiny," Kramisha said. "I never seen anything like it before."

"It was totally cool," Johnny B said, while the rest of the kids nodded and smiled.

Stevie Rae smiled back at them, feeling like a real High Priestess. "Well, I'm pretty sure it worked," she said.

"Ya think?" Dallas said.

"I think," she said, and they shared a look that made Stevie Rae's stomach feel quivery. She had to shake herself mentally and refocus, saying, "Uh, okay. Let's do this."

The kids scattered to the two vehicles, and Dallas draped his arm around Stevie Rae's shoulder. She let him draw her close.

"I'm proud of you, girl," he said.

"Thanks." She reached around his waist and slid her hand in his back pocket.

"And I'm glad you're bringin' us along this time," he said.

"It's the right thing to do," she said. "Plus, we're stronger together than we are apart."

Beside the Bug, he stopped and pulled her all the way into his arms. Bending, he murmured against her lips, "That' right, girl. We _are _stronger together." Then he kissed her with a fierce possession that surprised Stevie Rae.

Before she really knew it, she was kissing him back—and liking the hot way his hard, familiar, completely _normal _body was making her feel.

"Could y'all please get a room?" Kramisha called to them as she crawled into the little backseat of the Bug.

Stevie Rae giggled, weirdly light-headed, and also noticing that Alena blushed and looked away.

Dallas reluctantly let her step out of his arms so she could move to the driver's side of the Bug.

Over the roof, he caught her gaze, and said softly, "A room sounds good to me."

Stevie Rae felt her cheeks get hot, and another giggle escaped her mouth.

She and Dallas ducked inside the car.

From the backseat, Kramisha grumbled, "I heard that mess about a room soundin' good, Dallas, and all I'm sayin' is, you two best keep your minds out the gutter and on the bad kids who like to rip out people's throats."

"I said room, not gutter," Dallas grinned cockily over the seat at Kramisha.

"And I can multitask," Stevie Rae added with another giggle.

"Whatever. Let's just go. I got me a weird feelin' 'bout this," Kramisha said.

Stevie Rae glanced at Kramisha and Alena in the rearview mirror as she pulled out of the parking lot. "A weird feelin'? Did you write another poem?"

"No. And I ain't talkin' 'bout those bad kids."

Stevie Rae frowned at Kramisha's reflection.

"What else could you be talkin' 'bout?" Dallas asked.

Kramisha gave Alena a long look before she answered him. "Nothin'. I just got me some paranoia goin' on, that's all. You two face-suckin' instead of payin' attention to business ain't helping."

"I'm payin' attention to business," Stevie Rae said, looking away from Kramisha's reflection and concentrating on the road.

"Yeah, remember my girl's a High Priestess, and they can definitely handle a bunch of shit at once."

"Huh," Kramisha snorted.

The drive to the depot was short and silent.

Alena was uber-aware of Kramisha in the backseat.

_She knows about Rephaim. _

The thought whispered through Alena mind, and she immediately squelched it.

Kramisha didn't know about Rephaim. She only knew there was another guy. Nobody knows about Rephaim.

Except the red fledglings.

Panic fluttered through her stomach. What the heck was she gonna do if Nicole or one of the other kids told her fledglings about Rephaim?

Alena could imagine the scene. Nicole would be hateful and crude. Her kids would be totally shocked and freaked. They wouldn't believe she could have—

With a bolt of realization that almost had her gasping out loud, Alena knew the answer to her problem.

_The fledglings wouldn't believe she' d Imprinted with a Raven Mocker. Ever. _

She would simply deny it. There wasn't any proof.

Yeah, her blood might smell weird, but she'd already explained that. Darkness had fed from her—that was bound to make her smell weird.

Kramisha believed it, so did Stevie Rae. The rest of the kids would, too.

It would be her word against a bunch of kids who had gone bad _and _had tried to kill her

And what if some of them actually decided to choose good tonight and stayed here with the rest of them?

_Then they'll have to keep their mouths shut, or they don‟t stay, _was the grim thought that haunted Alena thought as Stevie Rae parked in the depot lot and gathered her fledglings around her.

"Okay, we're goin' in. Don't underestimate them," Stevie Rae said.

Without any discussion, Dallas moved to her right, and Johnny B took her left side. The rest of the kids followed closely behind as they pushed aside the deceptively secure-looking grate that gave them easy access to the basement of the abandoned Tulsa depot.

It looked much like it had when they'd been living down there. There was maybe a little more trash, but basically it was a dark, cold basement.

They moved to the rear corner entrance, where the tunnels dropped below them into an even deeper darkness.

"Can you see?" Dallas asked her.

"Of course, but I'll light the wall torches as soon as I find a match or whatever, so y'all can see, too."

"I got a lighter," Kramisha said, digging in her giant bag.

"Kramisha, do not tell me you're smoking," Stevie Rae said, taking the lighter from her.

"No, I ain't smokin'. That's just stupid. But I do believe in bein' prepared. And a lighter come in handy sometimes—like now."

Stevie Rae started to lower herself down the metal ladder with Dallas and Johnny B following closely behind her.

"Hang on." She made both of them wait by the foot of the ladder while she moved with utter confidence in the complete blackness to the first of the old-timey kerosene lanterns she'd helped to hang from old railroad nails on the curved wall of the tunnel. She lit the lantern and turned to smile at her boys, "There, that's better, huh?"

"Good job, girl." Dallas grinned at her. Then he hesitated and cocked his head to the side. "Do you hear that?"

Stevie Rae looked at Montoya as he cocked his head to the side while he helped Kramisha down the ladder.

"Hear what, Dallas?" Stevie Rae asked him.

Dallas pressed his hand against the rough concrete wall of the tunnel. "_That!_" he sounded

mesmerized.

"Dallas, you ain't makin' no sense," Kramisha told him.

He looked over his shoulder at them. "I'm not sure, but I think I can hear the electrical lines humming"

"Me too," Montoya said as he did the same.

"That's weird," Kramisha said.

"Well, you have always been super good with electricity and all that kind of guy stuff," Stevie Rae said.

"Yeah, but it's never been like this before. Seriously, I can _hear _the electricity humming through the cables I connected down here."

"Well, maybe it's like an affinity for you, and maybe you didn't realize it before 'cause you were down here all the time, and it just seemed normal," Stevie Rae said.

"But electricity ain't from the Goddess. How can it be an affinity gift?" Kramisha said, sending Dallas suspicious looks.

"Why can't it be from Nyx?" Stevie Rae said. "Truthfully, I've known weirder things before than a fledging getting an affinity for electricity. Uh, like a white bull personifying Darkness for one."

"You got a point there," Kramisha said.

"So we could actually have an affinity?" Both Montoya and Dallas looked dazed.

" 'Course you could, boy," Stevie Rae told him.

"If you do, then make it come in handy," Johnny B said, helping Shannoncompton and Venus down the ladder.

"Handy? Like how?" Montoya asked.

"Well, can you tell from the hummin' or whatever if those nasty red fledglings have been using electricity down here lately?" Kramisha said.

"I'll see." Montoya turned back to the wall, pressed his hands against the concrete, and squeezed his eyes shut.

Within just a few heartbeats his eyes popped open, and he gave a surprised gasp, then his gaze went straight to Stevie Rae.

"Yeah, the fledglings have been using the electricity. Actually they are right now. They're in the kitchen."

"Then that's where we're going," Stevie Rae said.


	33. Alena 33

"Okay, this really pisses me off." Stevie Rae kicked at another empty liter bottle of Dr Pepper that littered the tunnel.

"They's nasty and trifling." Kramisha agreed.

"Ohmygod. If they get me dirty, I'm gonna be so pissed," said Venus.

"Get _you _dirty? Girl, did you see what they done to my room?" Kramisha snarled.

"I really think we should focus," Dallas said. He and Montoya kept running a hand along the concrete wall. The closer to the kitchen area they got, the more restless they became.

"Dallas is right," Stevie Rae said. "First we gotta kick them outta here, and then we can worry about gettin' our stuff back into shape."

"Pier One and Pottery Barn still have Aphrodite's gold card on file," Kramisha told Venus.

Venus looked majorly relieved. "Well, that'll fix this mess."

"Venus, you need a lot more than a gold card to fix the mess you've turned into." Sarcasm shot out of the shadows of the tunnel in front of them. "Look at you—you're all tame and boring. And I used to think you had seriously cool potential."

Venus, along with Stevie Rae and the rest of her fledglings, came to a halt. "I'm tame and boring?"

Venus's laugh was as sarcastic as Nicole's voice. "So your idea of seriously cool must be ripping out people's throats. Please. That can't even be attractive."

"Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it," Nicole said, tucking aside the blanket that had been resting across the entryway to the kitchen.

She was framed in the doorway by lantern light from within.

She looked thinner—harder than Stevie Rae remembered her looking. Starr and Kurtis stood a little way behind her, and behind them at least a dozen red-eyed fledglings gathered, glaring at them maliciously.

Alena took one step forward towards Stevie Rae. Nicole's mean, red-tinged eyes darted from Venus to her.

"Oh, did you come back to play some more?" Nicole said.

"She's not playin' with you, Nicole. And you're done playing' "—Stevie Rae air quoted the word—"with people around here."

"You can't tell us what to do!" the words exploded from Nicole. Behind her, Starr and Kurtis bared their teeth and made noises that were more snarls than laughter.

The fledglings in the kitchen stirred restlessly.

It was then that Stevie Rae saw it. It hung near the ceiling over the rogue fledglings like a wavering sea of blackness that seemed to pool and write like a ghost made of nothing but darkness.

Darkness . . .

Stevie Rae swallowed down the bile of fear and forced her eyes to focus on Nicole. She knew what she had to do.

She needed to end this now, before Darkness got a better hold than it already had on them.

Instead of responding to Nicole, Stevie Rae drew a deep, cleansing breath and said, "Earth, come to me!" When she felt the ground beneath her feet and the curved sides of the tunnel around her begin to warm, she turned her attention to Nicole.

"As usual, you have it wrong, Nicole. I'm not gonna tell you what to do." Stevie Rae spoke in a calm, reasonable voice.

She knew from Nicole's widened eyes that she was probably taking on that green glow that had surrounded her at the House of Night, and she began lifting her hands, drawing more of the rich, vibrant energy of her element to her. "I'm gonna give you a choice, and then y'all are gonna take the consequences for what you choose. Just like all of us have to."

"How about you choose to take your pussy asses back to the House of Night with the rest of the spineless fucks who call themselves vampyres," Nicole said.

"You know I ain't no pussy," Dallas said, stepping closer to Stevie Rae.

"Neither am I," rumbled Montoya from behind Dallas.

"Nicole, I never did like you much. I always thought you had you a bad case of head-up-your-ass-itis. Now I'm sure of it," Kramisha said, moving up to stand closer to Stevie Rae's other side. "And I do not like the way you talkin' to our High Priestess."

"Kramisha, I do not give one single shit for what you like or don't like. And she ain't my High Priestess!" Nicole shouted, spraying white spittle from her lips.

"Seriously gross," Venus said. "You might want to rethink this whole evil-fledgling thing. It's making you ugly, in more ways than one."

"Power is never ugly, and I have power," Nicole said.

Stevie Rae didn't have to look up to tell that the Darkness seeping from the ceiling of the kitchen was getting thicker.

"Okay, that's enough. Y'all clearly can't be nice, so this needs to be done. Here's your choice—and each of you need to make it for yourself."

Stevie Rae looked behind Nicole as she spoke, meeting each set of glowing scarlet eyes, hoping beyond hope that she might get through to at least one of them.

"You can embrace Light. If you do, that means you choose goodness and the way of the Goddess, and you can stay here with us. We'll be starting back to school at the House of Night Monday, but we'll be livin' here in _our _tunnels, where we're surrounded by earth and we feel comfortable and all. Or you can keep choosing Darkness."

Stevie Rae saw Nicole's little jerk of surprise when she gave a name to it.

"Yeah, I know all about Darkness. And I can tell you that messin' with it, in any way, is a major mistake. But if that's your choice, then you're gonna have to leave here, alone, and not return."

"You can't make us do that," Kurtis said from behind Nicole.

"I can," Stevie Rae lifted her hands, squeezing them into glowing fists. "And it won't be just me. Lenobia is tellin' the High Council 'bout y'all. You'll be officially banished from every House of Night in the world."

"Hey, Nicole, like Venus said before, you be lookin' kinda rough. How you feelin'?" Kramisha suddenly said.

Then she raised her voice, talking to the kids over Nicole's shoulder. "How many a you been coughin' and feelin' like crap? Ain't no vampyre been 'round y'all for a while now, right?"

"Oh my good_ness, _I don't know how I could've forgotten 'bout that," Stevie Rae said to Kramisha, then she turned her attention back to the kids in the kitchen, speaking right past Nicole. "So, how many of you wanna die? Again."

"Looks like bein' a red fledgling is really just another kind of fledgling," Dallas said.

"Yeah, you might die if you're around vamps," Montoya said.

"But you for sure will die if you _not _around them," Kramisha said, with more than a hint of smugness in her tone. "But you know 'bout that 'cause y'all already died once. Wanna do it again?"

"So y'all need to choose," Stevie Rae said, still holding up her glowing fists.

"We sure as hell ain't choosing you for our High Priestess!" Nicole spat the words at her. "And neither would any of you if you knew the truth about her."

With a Cheshire cat smile, she spoke the words Alena had feared most anyone hearing. "I'll bet she didn't tell you she saved a Raven Mocker, did she?"

"You're a liar," Alena said, meeting Nicole's red gaze steadily.

"How did you know there's a Raven Mocker in Tulsa?" Montoya said.

Nicole snorted. "He was here. Your precious vampyre scent was all over him because _she saved his life_. He's how we trapped her on the roof. She went up there to save him _again_."

"That's bullshit!"Montoya shouted. He pressed his palm against the cement wall.

Alena felt her hair lift in a sudden rush of static electricity.

"Wow, you really have them fooled." Nicole said mockingly.

"That's it. I'm done with this," Stevie Rae said. "Make your choice. Now. Light or Darkness, which will it be?"

"We already made our choice." Nicole's hand went up under her baggy shirt and came out with a snub-nosed gun, which she aimed at the middle of Stevie Rae's head.

Stevie Rae felt one instant of terror, and then she heard cocking sounds and her stunned gaze went from Nicole's gun to the two Kurtis and Starr had raised and pointed at Dallas and Kramisha.

_That _pissed off Stevie Rae, and everything kicked into fast-forward.

Alena had spread her arms and created a force field, creating a barrier between the two groups.

Stevie Rae saw the oily Darkness that was clinging to the ceiling shiver and then dissipate completely.

Dallas yelled, "Ah, hells no. You're not pointing that thing at me!" Closing his eyes and concentrating, Dallas pressed both of his hands against the side of the tunnel wall. There was a crackling sound.

Kurtis yelped and dropped his gun. At the same instant, Nicole screamed—a raw, primal sound that was more like the roar of an enraged animal than something that should have come from a fledgling, and she squeezed the trigger.

The gunshots were deafeningly loud. The sound echoed painfully over and over until Stevie Rae lost count of how many real shots there were and how many were just an avalanche of sound, smoke, and sensation.

Stevie Rae didn't hear the screams of the rogue fledglings as the bullets ricocheted off Alena's barrier and slammed into their bodies, but she saw Starr fall and watched the terrible blossom of red that bloomed from the side of her head. Two other red-eyed kids slumped to the ground, too.

Pandemonium broke loose, and the unwounded fledglings in the kitchen pushed and shoved and climbed over each other as they fought to get to the narrow entrance that led up to the main depot building above.

Nicole hadn't moved. She was holding the empty gun, looking wild-eyed and still pulling the trigger when Stevie Rae yelled, "No! You've done enough!"

Acting on an instinct totally allied to the earth, Stevie Rae clapped her glowing hands together in front of her.

With a tearing sound, a raw, gaping hole opened in the far end of the kitchen, where before there had only been the curving side of the tunnel. "You need to leave here and never come back."

Like an avenging goddess, Stevie Rae hurled earth at Nicole and Kurtis and the others who still stood with them, sending a wave of power washing through the kitchen. It lifted all of them and hurled them into the newly opened tunnel.

While Nicole snarled curses at her, Stevie Rae calmly waved her hand. In a voice magnified by her element, she said, "Lead them away from here and close behind them. If they don't go, bury them alive."

Stevie Rae's last sight of Nicole was of her screaming at Kurtis and telling him to get his big ass moving.

Then the tunnel sealed, and all was quiet.

"Come on," Stevie Rae said. Not giving herself time to think about what she was walking into, she strode into the kitchen, straight to the broken, bleeding bodies Nicole had left behind.

There were five of them.

Three, including Starr, had been struck by Nicole's deflected shots. The other two had been trampled. "They're all dead." Alena thought it was strange that she sounded so calm.

"Montoya, Elliott, and I will get rid of 'em," Dallas said, taking a second to squeeze Stevie Rae's shoulder.

"I have to come with you," Stevie Rae told him. "I'm gonna open up the earth and bury them, and I'm not doin' that down here. I don't want them where we're gonna live."

"Okay, whatever you think's best," he said, touching her face gently.

"Here. Roll them into these sleepin' bags." Kramisha picked her way through the rubble and bodies in the kitchen, went to the storage closet and started filling her arms with sleeping bags.

"Thanks, Kramisha," Stevie Rae said, as Alena methodically took the bags from her and unzipping them.

A noise pulled her attention back to the doorway, where Venus, Sophie, and Shannoncompton were standing, white-faced. Sophie was making little sobbing noises, but no tears were coming from her eyes. "Go to the Hummer," Stevie Rae told them. "Wait for us there. We're goin' back to school. We won't be staying here tonight. 'Kay?"

The three girls nodded and then, holding hands, they disappeared down the tunnel.

"They's probably gonna need counseling," Kramisha told her.

Stevie Rae looked over the top of a sleeping bag at her. "And you won't?"

"No. I used to be a candy striper at St. John's E.R. I seen a whole lot of crazy there."

Alena pressed her lips together and tried not to think at all as they zipped the dead kids into five different bags and followed the boys, grunting under the weight of their burdens, out through the main depot building.

Silently, they let her lead the way to a dark, deserted area beside the train tracks.

Stevie Rae knelt and pressed her hands against the earth. "Open, please, and let these kids return to you."

The earth quivered, like the twitching skin of an animal, and then split, open forming a deep, narrow crevasse. "Go ahead and drop them in," she told the boys, who followed her orders grimly and silently.

When the last body had disappeared, Stevie Rae said, "Nyx, I know these kids made some bad choices, but I don't think that was all their fault. They are my fledglings, and as their High Priestess, I ask that you show them kindness and let them know the peace they didn't find here." She waved her hand in front of her, whispering, "Close over them, please."

The earth, like the fledgling at her side, did Stevie Rae's bidding.

When she stood up, Alena felt about a hundred years old. Montoya tried to touch her, but she started walking back to the depot.

"Dallas, would you and Montoya look around out here and make sure any of those kids who got out through the depot understand that they aren't welcome back? I'll be with you. Meet me there, 'kay?"

"We're on it, girl," Dallas said. He and Montoya jogged off.

"The rest of you guys can go to the Hummer," she said.

Without a word, the kids headed down the stairs that led to the basement parking lot. All except Alena.

"Can I stay with you?"

Stevie Rae smiled at her. "Sure,"

Slowly, Stevie Rae went through the depot and climbed down to the blood-soaked kitchen.

Kramisha was still there. She'd found a box of giant trash bags and was cramming rubble into them, muttering to herself.

Stevie Rae didn't say anything. She just grabbed another bag and joined her with Alena doing the same.

When they had most of the mess stuffed away in bags, Stevie Rae said, "Okay, you can go on now. I'm gonna do some earth stuff and get rid of this blood."

Kramisha studied the hard-packed dirt floor. "It ain't even soaking in."

"Yeah, I know. I'm gonna fix it."

Kramisha met her gaze. "Hey, you're our High Priestess and all, but you gotta understand that you can't fix everything."

"I think a High Priestess wants to fix everything," she said.

"I think a good High Priestess don't beat herself up for stuff she can't control."

"You'd make a good High Priestess, Kramisha."

Kramisha snorted. "I got me a job already. Don't try to put no more shit on my plate. I can barely handle this poem stuff as it is."

Stevie Rae smiled. "You know that's all up to Nyx."

"Yeah, well, me and Nyx gonna have us a talk. I'll see you outside." Still grumbling under her breath, Kramisha headed down the tunnel, leaving Stevie Rae and Alena alone.

"Earth, come to me again, please," she said, backing up to the entrance to the kitchen. When she felt the warmth build below and through her, Stevie Rae held out her hands, palms facing the bloody floor. "Like everything else living, blood eventually goes back to you. Please soak up the blood of these kids who shouldn't have had to die."

Like a giant earthen sponge, the floor of the kitchen became porous, and as Stevie Rae watched, it absorbed the crimson stain. When it was all gone, Alena felt her knees wobble, and she sat down, hard, on the newly cleaned floor. Then she began to cry.

"Alena? What's wrong?"

"I-I-m sorry. It's my fault they shot. They wanted to kill me and they died when I placed the field around us. I'm sorry."

"Shh, it aint your fault. We would've been dead if it weren't for your shield."

Stevie Rae went to comfort her but Alena shrugged her off.

"Please, just go. I want to be alone, Please"

Stevie Rae saw her cry but reluctantly listened as she left with the others to wait for her.

And that was how Dallas found her. Head bowed, face in her hands, sobbing her guilt and her sadness and her heart out.

She hadn't heard him come into the kitchen.

She only felt his arms go around her as he sat next to her and pulled her into his lap while he smoothed her hair and held her close, rocking her like she was very, very young.

When her sobs turned into hiccups, and the hiccups finally stopped, Alena wiped her face with her sleeve and then laid her head on his shoulder.

"Everyone's outside'," she said, even though she was finding it hard to move.

"No, we can take our time. I sent them all back in the Hummer. I said we'd follow in Z's Bug."

"Even Stevie Rae?"

"Even Stevie Rae. She didn't complain when she had to sit on Dallas's lap."

Stevie Rae surprised herself by laughing. "I'll bet he didn't complain."

"Nah."

"You sure?"

She leaned back so that she could look into his eyes.

He smiled at her. "Yep, and I'm gettin' kinda good at tellin' when someone likes someone."

"Oh, really? Like who?"

"Like you and me, mujer." Montoya bent and kissed her.

It started out as gentle, but Alena didn't let it stay like that.

She couldn't really explain exactly what happened, but whatever it was, she felt like a torch flaming out of control.

Maybe it had something to do with having just come too close to death and needing to be touched and loved to feel alive.

Or maybe the frustration that had been simmering inside her ever since Rephaim had first spoken to her finally boiled over and Montoya was the one to be burned by it.

Whatever the reason, Alena was on fire, and she needed Montoya to put the blaze out.

She tugged at his shirt, murmuring "Take it off . . ." against his lips.

With a grunt, he yanked it over his head.

While he was doing that, Alena pulled off her own shirt and started kicking off her flats and taking off her skirt.

She felt his eyes on her and looked up to meet his questioning gaze. "I want to do it with you, Montoya," she said in a rush. "Now."

"Are ya sure?"

She nodded. "Please. Now."

"Okay," he said, reaching for her.

When their bare skins touched, Alena thought she'd explode. _This _was what she needed.

Her skin was ultrasensitive, and everywhere Montoya touched, he scalded her, but in a very, very good way because Alena needed to be touched.

She had to be touched and loved and possessed over and over to wipe away everything: Nicole, the dead kids, fear for Zoey's life, and Rephaim.

Always, before anything else, there was Rephaim.

Montoya touch seared him away.

Alena knew she was still Imprinted with Rephaim—she could never forget that—but just then, with the slick heat of Montoya's sweaty skin smooth and human and real against hers, Rephaim seemed so distant.

It was almost as if he was moving away from her . . . letting her go . . .

"You can bite me if you want to." Montoya breath was warm against her ear. "Really. It's fine. I want you to."

He was on top of her, and he shifted his weight so that the curve of his neck was pressed against her lips.

She kissed his skin, and let her tongue taste him, feeling the pulse there and the ancient rhythm of it.

Alena replaced her tongue with her fingernail, caressing lightly, finding the perfect spot to pierce so that she could drink from him.

Montoya moaned, anticipating what was to come.

he could give him pleasure, and take from him at the same time.

It was the way it worked with mates—it was the way things were meant to be. It would be quick, easy, and feel really, really good.

_If I drink from him, my Imprint with Rephaim will break. _

The thought made her hesitate.

Alena stopped, one sharp fingernail tip pressed against Montoya's neck.

_No, I can have a mate if I wanted to, _she told herself.

But it was a lie—at least for Alena it was.

She knew, in the deepest recess of her heart, that her Imprint with Rephaim was something unique.

It wouldn't follow the rules that usually bound a vampyre to her consort.

It was strong—amazingly strong.

And maybe it was because of that unusual strength that she couldn't bind herself to any other guy.

_If I drink from Montoya, my Imprint with Rephaim will break. _

The knowledge was a cold certainty within her.

And then what about the debt she'd agreed to pay? Could she be bound to Rephaim's humanity without being Imprinted with him?

It was a question that wasn't to be answered because at that moment from behind them, as if conjured by her thoughts, Rephaim shouted, "Do not do this to us, Alena!"


	34. Rephaim 34

Rephaim felt her anger and wondered if he would be able to tell whether or not it was directed at him.

He purposely focused his thoughts on Alena, allowing the blood thread that tied them to strengthen.

More anger.

It poured through their bond, and the force of her ire surprised him though he could feel that she was attempting to hold herself in check.

No. Her fury wasn't aimed at him.

Someone else was rousing her—someone else was the focus of her aggression.

He pitied the poor fool.

Had he been a lesser being, he would have laughed sardonically and wished the hapless fellow well.

It was time he put Alena out of his mind.

Rephaim kept flying east, tasting the night with his powerful wings, reveling in his freedom.

He didn't need her now. He was whole. He was strong. He was himself again.

Rephaim didn't need the daughter of the Red One.

She was only the vessel through which he'd been saved.

The truth was her reaction to seeing him whole again proved theirs was a tie that needed to be severed.

Rephaim slowed, feeling unexpectedly weighed down by his thoughts.

He landed on a gentle rise of land covered by old pin oaks.

Standing on the little hillock, he gazed back the way he'd come, considering . . .

_Why did she reject me? _

Had he frightened her? That didn't seem possible. She'd seen him whole when he'd entered the circle. He'd been fully healed when he'd faced Darkness.

_For her he'd faced Darkness! _

Absently, Rephaim reached back and rubbed at the base of his wings. His skin felt smooth under his fingers.

There was no physical wound left. Alena had completely healed him from Darkness's wrath.

And then she'd turned from him as if she'd suddenly seen him as a monster and not a man.

_But I am not a man! _Thoughts blasted through Rephaim's mind. _She knew what I was! Why turn from me after everything we‟ve been through? _

Her behavior utterly baffled him. She'd called for him when she'd been in terror for her life—

_frightened beyond thinking, Alena had called for him. _

He'd answered her call and gone to her, saved her.

_I claimed her as my own. _

And then, weeping, she'd run away from him.

Yes, he'd seen her tears, but he hadn't known what he'd done to cause them.

With a deep cry of frustration, he threw his hands in the air, as if to rid himself of even the thought of her, and moonlight glinted off his palms.

Rephaim stilled.

Holding his arms out, he looked at them as if seeing them for the first time. He had a man's arms. She'd held his hands.

He'd even cradled her in his arms, though it had only been briefly as they'd escaped immolation on the rooftop.

His skin was really no different than hers. His was browner, perhaps, but only a little. And his arms were strong . . . well made . . .

By all the gods, what was wrong with him? It didn't matter what his arms looked like.

She would never truly be his.

How could he even imagine it? It was beyond all thoughts—beyond even the wildest of his dreams.

Unbidden, the words of Darkness echoed through his mind: _You are your father's son. Like him, you have chosen to champion a being who can never give you what it is you seek most. _

"Father championed Nyx," Rephaim spoke to the night. "She rejected him. And now I, too, have championed one who rejects me."

Rephaim launched himself into the sky.

His wings beat up, up.

He wanted to touch the moon—that crescent that symbolized the Goddess who had broken his father's heart and set about the sequence of events that created him.

Perhaps if he reached the moon, its Goddess would give him an explanation that would make sense—that would be balm to his heart, _because Darkness was correct. What I seek most, Alena can never give me. What I seek most is love . . ._

Rephaim couldn't speak the word aloud, but even the thought burned him.

He had been conceived in violence through a mixture of lust and fear and hate. Most of all hate, always hate.

His wings stroked the sky, lifting him ever upward.

Love couldn't be possible for him. He shouldn't even want it—shouldn't even think of it.

But he did. Since Alena had touched his life, Rephaim had begun to think of love.

She'd shown him kindness, and he'd never before known kindness.

She'd been gentle with him, bandaging his wounds and tending his body. He'd never been cared for before the night she'd helped him out of the freezing, bloody darkness.

Compassion . . . she'd brought compassion into his life.

And he'd never known laughter before he knew her.

Staring up at the moon, beating the wind with his wings, he thought of her incessant babble and the way her eyes sparkled with humor at him, even when he didn't know what he'd done to amuse her, and he had to choke back unexpected laughter.

Alena made him laugh.

She hadn't seemed to care that he was the powerful son of an indestructible immortal.

Alena had ordered him around as if he was anyone else in her life—anyone who was normal, mortal, capable of love and laughter and real emotions.

But he did have real emotions! Because Alena made him feel.

Had that been her plan all along? When she'd freed him from the abbey, she'd said he had a choice to make.

Was this what she'd meant—that he could choose a life where laughter and compassion and perhaps even love truly existed?

Then what about his father? What if Rephaim chose a new life, and Kalona returned to this world?

Perhaps that was something he should worry about when it happened.

If it happened.

Before he knew what he was doing, Rephaim slowed.

He couldn't touch the moon; it was as impossible as it was for a creature such as he to be loved.

And then Rephaim realized he was no longer flying to the east.

He'd circled and was retracing his path. Rephaim was returning to Tulsa.

He tried not to think as he flew.

He tried to keep his mind utterly clear.

He wanted only to feel the night under his wings—to have the cool, sweet air brush his body.

But Alena intruded again.

Her sadness reached him.

Rephaim knew she was crying.

He could feel her sobs as if they were in his own body.

He flew faster. What had made her weep? Was she crying because of him again?

Rephaim flew past Gilcrease without hesitating.

She wasn't there.

He could feel that she was away, farther to the south.

It was as his wings beat the night air that Alena's sadness changed, shifting into something that at first confused him, and then when Rephaim realized what it was, his blood boiled.

Desire! Alena was in the arms of someone else!

Rephaim didn't stop to think like a creature of two worlds who was neither man nor beast.

He didn't remember that he'd been born from rape and sentenced to know nothing except Darkness and violence and service to his hate-driven father.

Rephaim didn't think at all. He only _felt_.

If Alena gave herself to another, he would lose her forever.

And if he lost her forever, his world would go back to the dark, lonely, joyless place it had been before he'd known her.

Rephaim couldn't bear that.

He didn't call on his father's blood to lead him to Alena.

Rephaim did the opposite.

From deep within him, he conjured an image of a sweet-faced Cherokee maiden who hadn't deserved to die in a flood of blood and pain.

Keeping the girl he'd dreamed as his mother in his mind, he flew on instinct, following his heart.

Rephaim's heart led him to the depot.

The sight of the place sickened him.

Not simply because he remembered the rooftop and how close Alena had come to death.

He hated the place because he could feel her there—inside—under the earth, and he knew she was in another's arms.

Rephaim tore the grate from the opening. Without hesitation, he strode through the basement.

Following the link that bound him to her, he entered the familiar tunnels.

His breath came hard and fast.

His blood pounded through his body, fueling his anger and despair.

When he finally found her, the boy was atop her, rutting against Alena, oblivious to everything else in the world.

What a fool he was.

Rephaim should have hurled him from her.

He wanted to.

The Raven Mocker in him wanted to slam the fledgling against the wall again and again until he was battered and bloody and no longer a threat.

The man within him wanted to weep.

Flooded with feelings he could neither understand nor control, he found himself frozen in place, staring, with horror and hatred as well as desire and despair.

As he watched, Alena readied herself to drink the boy's blood, and Rephaim knew two things with utter certainty:

first, what she was doing would break their Imprint. Second, he did not want their Imprint to be broken.

Without conscious thought, he shouted, "Do not do this to us, Alena!"

The boy's response was quicker than Alena's.

He leaped up, pushing her naked body behind him.

"Get the fuck outta here, pedazo de mierda!" The boy kept himself positioned between Rephaim and Alena.

The sight of the fledgling shielding her, protecting _his _Alena from _him _, sent a wave of possessive fury through Rephaim.

"Begone, boy! You're not needed here!" Rephaim crouched defensively and began moving slowly toward him.

"What the—?" Alena said, shaking her head as if she was trying to clear it while she grabbed Montoya's shirt from the floor and hastily pulled it on to cover herself.

"Stay behind me, Alena. I won't let it get you."

Rephaim stalked the boy, following him as he moved back, pushing Alena with him.

Rephaim saw her eyes widen as she peered around the boy and finally truly saw him.

"No!" she cried. "No, you can't be here!"

Her words stabbed him.

"But I am here!" His anger was at the boiling point.

The boy kept moving back, keeping Alena behind him.

Following him, Rephaim entered the kitchen.

As he did, a flickering motion caught his attention, and he glanced upward.

Darkness writhed in a sick black pool that clung to the ceiling.

Rephaim wrenched his attention back to Alena and the fledgling.

He wouldn't think of Darkness now.

He couldn't even consider the possibility that the white bull had returned to claim the rest of his debt.

"Stay back!" the boy cried. Unbelievably, the fledgling made a shooing motion at Rephaim, as if he were an annoying bird that had fluttered into someone's home.

"_Sssstep_aside! You are keeping me from what's mine!" Rephaim hated to hear the bestial hiss in his voice, but he couldn't help it.

The damned boy was pushing him to the edge of his patience.

"Rephaim, just go. I'm fine. Montoya wasn't doing anything bad to me."

"Just go? Leave you?" the words burst from Rephaim. "How can I?"

"You're not supposed to be here!" Alena shouted, looking like she was on the verge of tears.

"How could I not be? How could you believe I wouldn't know what you were about to do?"

"Get out of here!"

"You mean run away? Like you did from me? No. I won't do that, Alena. I choose _not _to do that."

The boy had reached the wall.

While he looked from Rephaim to Alena, he was feeling behind him for cords that poked from a hole that had been chiseled there.

"You know each other. You really do," the boy said.

"Of _courssse _we do, fool!" Rephaim hissed again, hating the ungovernable beast in his voice.

"How?" The fledgling hurled the word at Alena.

"Montoya, I can explain."

"Good!" Rephaim shouted as if she'd spoke to him and not the fledgling. "I want you to explain what happened today."

"Rephaim." Alena looked around Montoya to him and shook her head like she was beyond frustrated.

"This is not the right time."

"You know each other."

Rephaim noticed the change in the boy's voice before Alena did.

The fledgling's tone had hardened—gone cold and mean.

The Darkness above them quivered as if in gleeful anticipation.

"Okay, yes but I can explain…I"

"You've been with him all along."

Alena frowned. "All along? No. I found him when he was hurt; I didn't know what—"

"All this time I've been treatin' you like you was some kind of queen or somethin'," he interrupted Alena again.

Alena looked shocked and hurt. "But I'm trying to tell you, I found Rephaim when he was hurt, and I just couldn't let him die."

Taking advantage of the fact that the boy's attention was completely focused on Alena, Rephaim inched closer.

The Darkness above them thickened.

"He was part of what almost killed you in the circle!"

"He was what saved me in the circle!" Alena shouted back at Montoya. "If he hadn't shown up, that white bull would've killed me."

Her words didn't faze the boy. "You've been keeping this _thing _a secret. You've been lyin' to everybody!"

"I had to! I didn't know what else to do!"

"You lied to me, you whore!"

"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" Alena slapped him. Hard.

Montoya staggered back half a step. "What the fuck has he done to you?"

"Nothing!" she yelled.

"He's messed your head up completely!" Montoya yelled.

The Darkness above them poured down from the ceiling, like it had suddenly found a weak point in a dam.

It slicked around Montoya, covering his head and shoulders, swirling around his waist with a sickening familiarity that reminded Rephaim of razor-edged snakes.

But Darkness didn't cut Montoya.

Instead, he seemed oblivious to the glistening blackness that now coated him.

"He didn't do anything to my mind. He hasn't done anything to me," Alena said.

Her eyes widened, like she finally noticed the Darkness.

She took a step back from the boy, like she didn't want to be tainted by what was touching him.

"Montoya, listen to know me. This isn't what it looks like."

Rephaim could see the change come over Montoya.

It was that withdrawal from him that did it—that coupled with the influence of the Darkness that encased him.

Totally incensed, the fledgling screamed, "He's made you a goddamned whore and a liar! You need some sense knocked into you, Mujer!" Montoya lifted his hand like he was going to hit Alena.

Rephaim didn't hesitate.

He leaped, closing the space between him and the boy, knocking him away from Alena and taking his place in front of her.

"Don't hurt him!" Alena was saying as she grabbed Rephaim's arm and kept him from making another strike against the boy. "He wouldn't really hurt me."

Rephaim let her pull him back. Turning to her, he said, "I think you underestimate the boy."

"She damn sure does," Montoya said grimly.

Rephaim didn't know where the pain came from.

He only knew the bright white heat of it.

His body convulsed.

His back bowed in agony.

Dimly, through a graying veil, he could see Montoya, eyes glowing with a scarlet hue that was impossibly bright, holding one of the wires that protruded from the wall.

"Rephaim!" Alena cried.

She started to reach for him, but then Rephaim saw her pull back.

Instead, she ran to Montoya.

"Stop it! Let him go," she told the boy, pulling on his arm.

His blood red eyes skewered her. "I'm gonna fry him. And then whatever weird control he has over you is gonna be gone. You and me can be together, and I won't tell anyone shit about what happened here, long as you're my mujer."

With a detached sense of understanding, Rephaim noted that Darkness was no longer present on the boy's body.

It had soaked into him—it had claimed him.

It augmented whatever strength the fledgling wielded.

Rephaim felt sure Montoya was going to kill him.

"Shield, I need your help."

He heard Alena's words through the flickering of his consciousness, like she was candlelight trying to reach him through a gale wind.

With a mighty effort, Rephaim focused his vision on her. Their eyes met, and her words came to him, suddenly clear and strong and sure.

"Protect him from Montoya because Rephaim belongs to me."

She made a motion toward Rephaim, like she was hurling something at him—and she was. A bright red glow slammed into his body, throwing him backward and breaking whatever it was that Montoya had been channeling into him.

"Nyx, please let earth heal him."

Breathing hard, he lay on the ground, crumpled in a heap, as he absorbed what was becoming the familiar, gentle touch of healing earth.

Montoya turned to Alena.

"You just said that thing belongs to you."

The fledgling's voice was like death.

Rephaim pressed himself against the ground, opening his shocked body to the earth, willing it to enter him—to heal him enough so that he could reach Alena.

"Yeah. He does Rephaim belongs to me." Her eyes skirted Montoya and met his again. "And I belong to him, which is weird."

"It doesn't sound weird. It sounds fucking sick."

Before Rephaim could get to his feet, Montoya pointed a finger at her.

There was a deafening crack, and Alena was suddenly standing in the middle of a glowing red shield. Her brow was furrowed, and she shook her head slowly back and forth.

"You tried to shock me? You really wanted to hurt me, Montoya?"

"You chose that thing over me!" he screamed at her.

"I did what was right!"

"You know what, if that's what's right, I don't want nothin' to do with it! I want the opposite!"

As soon as Montoya spoke those words, he cried out and, dropping the wire he'd been clutching in his fist, the fledgling fell to his knees and crumpled, facedown.

"Montoya? Are you okay?" Alena made a hesitant move toward him.

"Stay away from him," Rephaim rasped as he laboriously gained his feet.

Alena paused, and then instead of continuing to Montoya, she hurried over to Rephaim, pulling his arm around her shoulders. "Are you okay? You looked fried like French fries.

"

"Fried?" Despite everything, she made him want to laugh. "What does that even mean?"

"This." Alena touched one of the feathers on his chest. He was surprised to see that it looked singed.

"You're a little crispy around the edges."

"You touch it. You probably fuck it, too! Damn, I'm glad it stopped me before we finished doin' it. I ain't gonna ever be sloppy seconds to a fucking mierda!"

"Montoya, listen to yourself…" Alena began, but when she looked at Montoya, her words stopped short.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm no stupid fledgling anymore," he said.

Brand-new red tattoos in the shape of striking whips framed Montoya's face.

Rephaim thought they looked disturbingly like the tendrils of Darkness that had entrapped Alena and him within the circle.

His eyes glowed an even brighter red, and his body seemed to grow larger, swelling with newly gained power.

"You've Changed!"

"In a bunch of different ways!"

"Montoya, listen to me. Remember Darkness? It's controlling you. Please try to think. Please don't let it get you."

"_It _get _me_? You can say that when you're standing beside that thing? Ah, hell no! I'm never gonna listen to your mentiras again. And I'm gonna make sure no one else does, either you piece of mierda!" He sneered the words at her, his voice filled with anger and hate.

As he stood up and began reaching for the wires he'd used before to channel power, Alena moved.

Pulling Rephaim with her, Alena backed from the kitchen.

Stepping outside the entrance, she lifted her hand while creating a red glow, took a deep breath, and said, "Shield, break it down and close it."

"No!" Montoya yelled.

Rephaim got a brief glimpse of him grabbing the wire and pointing at them, and then with a sound like the soughing of wind through autumn boughs, the earth rained down in front of them, closing the tunnel entrance to the kitchen and shielding them from the wrath of Darkness

"Can you walk?" Alena asked.

"Yes. I'm not hurt badly. Or at least I'm not anymore. The earth made sure of that," he said, looking down at her where she stood small, but proud and powerful in the circle of his arm.

"Okay, we have to get out of here." Alena stepped from his side and began hurrying down the tunnel.

"He'll be out in no time, and we need to be gone from here then."

"Why don't you just seal the other exit, too?" he asked as he followed her.

The glance she gave him was visibly annoyed. "And kill him? He's not bad, Rephaim. He just went crazy because Darkness was messed with him, and he found out about me and you."

_Me and you . . . _

Rephaim wanted to hold on to the words that linked them together, but he couldn't.

There was no time for such things.

Rephaim shook his head. "No, Alena. Darkness wasn't just messing with him. Montoya chose to embrace it."

He thought she'd argue with him.

Instead, he saw her shoulders slump. She didn't look back at him, but only said, "Yeah, I know."

They climbed the ladder silently and were making their way through the basement, when a sound drifted to Rephaim through the wrenched-open gate.

He was just thinking that it seemed familiar when Alena gasped, "He's taking the car!" and she sprinted outside with Rephaim at her heels.

They emerged in time to see the little blue car pulling out of the parking lot.

Rephaim's sharp eyes went to the eastern horizon, which was beginning to go from black to a predawn gray.

"You need to get back into the tunnels," he said.

"I can't. Everyone will be here if I'm not back by dawn."

"I will leave," he said. "Return to the Gilcrease. Then you can rest underground, and your friends will find you. You'll be safe."

"What if Montoya is going back to the House of Night? He'll tell them about us."

Rephaim hesitated only for a moment.

"Then do what you must. You know where I will be." He turned to leave.

"Take me with you."

Her words made his body freeze. He didn't look at her. "It's close to dawn."

"You're healed, aren't you?"

"I am."

"You're strong enough to fly and carry me?"

"Yes, I am."

"Then take me back to the Gilcrease with you. It has a basement."

"What about your friends—the other red fledglings?" he said.

"I'll call Kramisha and tell her Montoya has lost his mind, and I'm safe, but not in the tunnels."

"When they find out about me, it will appear you're choosing me over them."

"What I'm choosing is to take some time to think before I have to deal with the Montoya." she said.

Then, in a much softer voice, she added, "Unless you don't want me to come with you. You could leave then you won't have to deal with me anymore."

"Am I or am I not your consort?" Rephaim asked the question before he could stop himself.

"Yes. You are my consort."

He hadn't known he was holding his breath until it left him in a long, relieved sigh.

Rephaim opened his arms to her. "Then you should come with me. I will see you rest undisturbed today."

"Thank you," she said, and then the daughter of the Red One stepped into his arms. He held her tightly while his powerful wings lifted them into the sky.


	35. Rephaim 35

Alena had been right.

There was a basement in the old mansion.

It had stone walls and a hard-packed dirt floor, but it was surprisingly dry and comfortable.

With a relieved sigh, Alena settled herself, sitting cross-legged, leaning against the cement wall, and pulled out her cell phone.

Rephaim stood there, not sure what he should do, while she called the fledgling named Kramisha and began a dialogue of hasty and sketchy explanations as to why she wouldn't be returning to the school

_Montoya has lost his damn mind . . . electricity must have messed up with his good sense . . . kicked me out of the car on the way back to the House of Night . . . no, I‟m fine . . . probably be back tomorrow night . . . _

Feeling like an interloper, Rephaim left her to talk with her fledgling in privacy.

He returned to the attic and paced before the open door of the closet he'd transformed into a nest.

He was tired. Even though he was fully healed, racing the sunrise carrying Alena had sapped his reserves of strength. He should retreat to the closet and rest during the daylight hours. Alena wouldn't leave the basement until sunset.

Alena _couldn‟t _leave the basement.

She could be hurt during daylight hours.

It was true that the red fledglings were all vulnerable between dawn and dusk, so Montoya wasn't a threat to her until dark. But what if a human stumbled upon her?

Slowly, Rephaim gathered the blankets and food staples he'd accumulated and began carrying them to the basement.

It was fully daylight when he made his last trip down the stairs.

She'd ended the phone call and was curled up in the corner.

Alena barely stirred when he covered her with a blanket.

Then he made himself comfortable beside her.

Not so close they were touching, but not so far away that she wouldn't see him immediately when she awoke.

And he made sure he was positioned between her and the door. If someone tried to enter, they would have to get through him to reach her.

Rephaim's last thought before he fell asleep was that he finally understood the ever-present sense of rage and restlessness that surrounded his father.

Had Alena truly rejected him today and cast him from her, his world would have forever been colored by the loss of her.

And that understanding held more terror for him than the possibility of having to face Darkness again.

_I do not want to live in a world without her._

Utterly exhausted by feelings he could barely comprehend, the Raven Mocker slept.


	36. Alena 36

As the sun set, Alena's eyes opened.

For a second she was super confused.

It was dark, but that didn't disorient her—that was cool.

She could feel the earth around her.

There was a slight movement off to her side, and she turned her head.

Her keen night vision was able to differentiate one depth of blackness from another, and the huge wing took form, followed by a body.

Rephaim.

Everything came back to her then: the red fledglings, Montoya, and Rephaim.

Always Rephaim.

"You stayed down here with me?"

His eyes opened, and she felt her own widen in surprise.

The blazing scarlet within them had calmed to a rusty color that was more amber than red.

"I did. You're vulnerable when the sun is in the sky."

She thought he sounded nervous, almost apologetic, so she grinned at him. "Thanks, even though you watched me sleep."

"I did not watch you sleep!"

He said it so quickly that it was obvious he was lying.

She opened her mouth to tell him it was okay when her phone chirped "You have voice mail" sound.

"It has been making noise. A lot of noise," Rephaim told her.

"Crap. I can't hear anything when I'm sleepinh." She sighed and reluctantly picked up the iPhone from where she'd set it beside her.

Alena opened the screen, saw the battery was almost dead, and sighed again.

She tapped to the missed-call screen. "Ah, crap. Six missed calls. One from Lenobia and five from Stevie Rae."

Heart pounding, she clicked into Lenobia's first. Putting it on speaker she glanced at Rephaim.

"_Alena, call me when you wake up. Kramisha said she wasn‟t sure where you were, but that you‟re safe even though Montoya ran off. I‟ll come get you right away." _

She smiled up at Rephaim. "Aw, that was nice of her."

"Montoya hasn't reached her yet."

"No," she said, her smile going out.

"Definitely not." She turned her attention back to the phone.

"Four missed calls from Aphrodite, but she only left one message. Here's hoping it's not scary bad news."

She clicked the play button. Stevie Rae's voice was filled with worry and angst.

"_Alena answer your phone! Aphrodite called and said Z's still isn't back, and Stark's being sliced up so he can get to the Otherworld. Aphrodite also told me her newest vision and she says you are in it, she said that you were with a hot Indian kid, and not just anyway Indian kid, the biggest baddie of all the Raven Mockers, Rephaim. We need to talk."_

Not wanting to stay in the same room with the words _and the biggest baddie of all the Raven Mockers, Rephaim, _hovering around, she shoved her phone in her pocket and started up the basement stairs.

She didn't have to look behind her to make sure he was following.

She knew he would.

The night was cool, but not cold, right on the edge of that freezing/slushy line.

"No one is out. This will be one of the last places they come, especially at night."

Relieved, Alena nodded and left the porch, walking aimlessly toward the fountain that sat silent and cold in the middle of the yard.

"Your people are going to find out about me," Rephaim said.

"Some of them already have." Alena reached down and touched the top edge of the fountain, breaking off an icicle that was suspended there and letting it fall into the water in the basin below.

"What will you do?" Rephaim stood beside her.

They both stared down at the dark fountain water as if they could discover the answer there.

Finally, Alena said, "I think the question is more like, what will you do?"

"What would you have me do?"

"Rephaim, you can't answer my question with a question."

He made a derisive noise. "You did mine."

"Rephaim, stop. Tell me what you want to do about, _us_."

She stared at his changed eyes, wishing his features were easier to read.

He took so long to answer that she thought he wasn't going to, and frustration gnawed at her.

She had to get back to the House of Night.

She had to get there before Montoya messed everything up.

"What I would do is stay with you."

His words, simple, honest, and said in one rush didn't sink in at first.

At first she just looked at him questioningly, unable to fully grasp what he'd said.

And then she truly heard him, and understood, and she felt an unexpected, unwanted rush of joy.

"It's going to be bad," she said. "But I want to stay with you."

"They'll try to kill me. You must know that."

"I won't let them!" Alena reached out and took his hand.

Slowly, very slowly, his fingers twined with hers, and he gave a little tug, pulling her closer to his side. "I won't let them," she repeated.

She didn't look at him.

Instead, she held his hand and stole one small moment together.

She tried not to think too much.

She tried not to question everything.

She stared down into the still, black water of the fountain, and the cloud that was blanketing the moon lifted, revealing their reflection.

_I'm a girl who's somehow been bound to the humanity of a guy who is a beast. _

Aloud, she said, "I'm bound to you, Rephaim."

Without any hesitation he said, "And I you, Alena."

As he spoke, the water rippled, as if Nyx herself had breathed across its surface, and their reflection changed.

The image revealed in the water was Alena holding the hand of a tall, muscular Native American boy.

His hair was thick and long, and as black as the raven feathers that were braided into its length.

His chest was bare, and he was hotter than eggs cooking on a 400 degree black top.

Alena stayed very still; afraid if she moved the reflection would change.

But she couldn't help smiling and, softly she said, "Wow, you're really pretty."

The guy in the reflection blinked a bunch of times, like he wasn't sure he was seeing clearly, then in Rephaim's voice, he said, "Yes, but I don't have wings."

Alena's heart fluttered, and her stomach tightened.

She wanted to say something really smart.

Instead, she heard herself say, "Sure, that's true, but you are tall and you got those cool feathers braided into your hair."

In the reflection, the boy lifted the hand that wasn't holding hers and touched his hair.

"They're not much if you compare them to wings," he said, but he smiled at Alena.

"But wings won't let you put on shirts."

He laughed, and with an obvious sense of wonder, let his hand touch his face. "Soft," Rephaim said.

"The human face is so soft."

"Yeah," Alena said, totally mesmerized by what was happening in their reflection.

As slowly as he'd woven their fingers together, without taking his gaze from their reflection, Rephaim reached from his face to hers.

His hand touched her skin lightly, gently.

He stroked her cheek and let his fingers brush her lips.

She smiled, then, and couldn't help an awkward giggle. "I'm sorry. I can't help .It's just that you're so pretty!"

Rephaim's human reflection smiled, too.

"_You‟re _pretty," he said so softly she almost didn't hear him.

Heart hammering, she said, "You think so? Really?

"Really. I just can't ever tell you. I can't ever let you know how I really feel."

"You are now," she said.

"I know. For the first time I feel—" Rephaim's words cut off midsentence.

The reflection of the boy wavered and then disappeared.

In its place Darkness lifted from the still water, forming the shape of a raven's wings and the body of a powerful immortal.

"Father!"

Rephaim didn't need to speak the name.

Alena knew what had come between them the moment it had happened.

She pulled her hand from his.

He resisted for only an instant before letting her go.

Then he turned to face her, bringing one dark wing forward to blot out her view of their reflection in the fountain.

"He's returned to his body. I can feel it."

Alena didn't trust herself to speak. She could only nod.

"He's not here, though. He's far away from me. Must still be in Italy." Rephaim was speaking rapidly. Alena took a step away from him, still unable to say anything at all.

"He feels different. Something has changed." Then it was like his thoughts were catching up to him, and Rephaim's eyes met hers. "Alena? What are we going to—?"

Alena gasped, cutting off his words. Stevie Rae sent her a vision, making the earth swirl around her, filling her senses with a joyous dance of homecoming.

The cold Tulsa landscape shimmered, shifted, and suddenly she was surrounded by amazing trees, all green and shiny-leafed, and a bed made of thick, soft moss.

Then the image focused, and Zoey was there, in Stark's arms, laughing and whole again.

"Zoey!" Alena shouted, and the image disappeared, leaving only the joy of it and the certainty that her Stevie Rae's BFF was whole again and most definitely alive.

Grinning, she went to Rephaim and threw her arms around him. "Zoey's alive!"

His arms tightened around her, but only for the space of a breath, and then they both remembered the truth, and at the same time, stepped away from each other.

"My father returns."

"And Zoey too."

"And for us that means we cannot be together," he said.

Alena felt sick and sad.

She shook her head.

"No, Rephaim. It only means that if you let it."

"Look at me!" he cried. "I'm not the boy in the reflection. I'm a beast. I don't belong with you."

"That's not what your heart says!" she shouted back at him.

His shoulders slumped, and he looked away from her. "But Alena, my heart has never mattered.

She stepped close to him.

Automatically, he faced her.

Their gazes met, and with a terrible despair she saw that the scarlet was, once again, blazing in his eyes.

"It matters to me and when you decide your heart matters as much to you as it does to me, come find me again. Just follow your heart." Without any hesitation, she put her arms around him and held him tightly. Alena ignored the fact that he didn't return her embrace.

Instead, she whispered, "I'll miss you," before she kissing his cheek and walked away.

As she started walking down Gilcrease Road, the night wind brought to her Rephaim's whispered,

_I'll miss you, too . . ._


	37. Alena 37

"You ain't yourself. You know that?"

Alena looked up at Kramisha. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"You picked the darkest, creepiest corner stuck all over here. You blew them candles out so it'd be even darker. And you sitting here moping so loud I can almost hear your thoughts."

"You can't hear my thoughts."

The hard edge to Alena's voice had Kramisha's eyes widening. " 'Course I can't. They's

no need for you to get all huffy. I said _almost. _I ain't Sookie Stackhouse. Plus, even if I was I wouldn't listen in to your thoughts. That'd be rude and my mama raised me better than that."

Kramisha sat next to Alena on the little wooden bench. "I got somethin' else we gotta discuss before we go into what I know is gonna be one majorly boring

Council Meeting."

"I know but we have to. Stevie Rae's is the High Priestess.

You're a Poet Laureate. We have to go to the Council Meetings. And we are under her orders."

"Yeah, yeah, I get that. What I don't get is what's got you so messed up in the head you seem turned

inside out."

"My boyfriend has lost his mind and disappeared off the face of the earth. Zoey almost died in the Otherworld. The red fledglings— the other ones—are still out there somewhere out there eating people. I think that's enough to mess up anyone's head."

"Yeah, it is. But it ain't enough to keep givin' me weird-assed poems that all have the same freaky

theme. They about you _and _beasts, and I want to know why."

"Kramisha, I do not know what you're talking about."

Alena started to stand up, but Kramisha reached into her huge bag and pulled out a piece of violet-colored paper that had her bold writing scrawled across it. With another heavy exhale of breath, Alena sat down and held out her hand.

"I wrote 'em both on this paper. The old one and the new one. Somethin' told me you might need your memory refreshed."

Alena didn't say anything. Her eyes went to the first poem on the paper. She took her time reading it. Not because she needed her memory refreshed. She didn't. Every line of the poem had been burned into her mind.

_The daughter of the Red One steps into the Light_

_girded loins for her part in the apocalyptic fight._

_Darkness hides in different forms_

_See beyond shape, color, lies and emotional storms._

_Ally with him; pay with your heart though trust cannot be given_

_unless the Darkness you part._

_See with the soul and not your eyes_

_because to dance with beasts you_

_must penetrate their disguise._

Alena told herself she wouldn't cry, but her heart felt bruised and broken. The poem had been

right. She'd seen Rephaim with her soul, not with her eyes. She'd parted Darkness and trusted and

accepted him—and because of that, because she'd allied herself with a beast, she had paid with her

heart. She was still paying with her heart.

Reluctantly, Alena looked to the second poem on the page—the new one. Reminding herself

not to react, not to let her face give away anything, she started reading:

_Beasts can be beautiful_

_Dreams become desires_

_Reality changes with reason_

_Trust your truth_

_Man … monster … mystery … magick_

_Hear with your heart_

_See without scorn_

_Love will not lose_

_Trust his truth_

_His promise is proof_

_The test is time_

_Faith frees_

_If there is courage to change._

Alena's mouth felt dry. "Sorry, I don't know what they about." She tried to hand the piece of paper back to Kramisha, but the poet's hands were folded across her chest.

"You ain't a good liar, Alena."

"I'm not a liar!"

There was an edge of meanness to Alena's voice that had Kramisha shaking her head.

"What's happenin' to you? You dealing with somethin' that's eatin' you from the inside out. If you

was yourself, you'd be talkin' to me. You'd be trying to figure this out."

"I can't figure out this poetry stuff! It's too confusing. I never even liked poems!"

"That's a damn lie," Kramisha said. "We been figuring this stuff out. Zoey has. You and I did, or at

least we did enough to get word to Z in the Otherworld. And it helped. Stark said it did."

Kramisha pointed at the first poem. "Some of this one came true. You met the beasts. Those bulls. You been different ever since. Now I been given another one of them beast poems. I know they for you. And I know you know more than you sayin'."

"Look, Just leave me alone." Alena stood up, stepped out of the alcove, and as she walked right into Dragon Lankford she yelled back at Kramisha, "And I don't want to talk anymore about this beast stuff!"

"Hey, whoa, what's this about?" Dragon's strong hand steadied Alena when she stumbled because of their collision. "Did you say _beast stuff_?"

"She did." Kramisha pointed at the notebook page in Alena's hand. "Two poems come to

me, one the day Alena tangled with them bulls, and the second just a little while ago. She don't want to pay them no mind."

"I didn't say I wasn't going to ignore them. I just want to take care of it myself without everyone trying to help me. I can deal with it."

"Are you in agreement with me that Kramisha's poems are important." Dragon asked

"Yes."

"Then you can't just ignore them." Dragon rested his hand on Alena's shoulder. "I know how it

feels to want to keep your life private, but you've stepped into a position where there are more important things than your privacy."

"I know that, but I can deal with this by myself."

"You didn't deal with the bulls," Kramisha said. "They still happened."

"They're gone, aren't they?"

"I remember seeing you after your battle with the bull. You were gravely injured. Had you understood Kramisha's warning the cost to you might not have been so great. And then there is the fact that a Raven Mocker appeared, and he might even be the creature Rephaim. That monster is still out there somewhere and a danger to all of us. So, you must understand, young vampyre, that a forewarning meant for you cannot be kept private because it touches the lives of others."

Alena stared into Dragon's eyes. His words were strong. His tone was kind. But was that suspicion and anger she saw in his expression, or was it just the grief that had been shadowing him since the death of his wife?

While she hesitated, Dragon continued, "A beast killed Anastasia. We cannot allow any other innocent to be touched by these creatures of Darkness if we can prevent it. You know I speak truth, Alena."

"I-I know," she stuttered, trying to order her words.

_Rephaim killed Anastasia the night Darius shot him from the sky. No one will ever forget that—I can never forget that, especially now that things have changed. It's been weeks and I haven't seen him. At all. Our Imprint is still there. I can feel it, but I haven't felt anything from him._

And that lack of feeling made the decision for Alena. "Okay, you're right. I need help."

_Maybe this is the way it was meant to be, _she

thought as she handed Dragon the poems.

_Maybe Dragon will discover my secret, and when he does it will all be destroyed: Rephaim, our Imprint, and my heart. But at least it'll be over._

As Dragon read the poetry Alena watched his expression get darker. When he finally looked from the page and into her eyes, there was no mistaking his worry.

"The second bull you conjured, the black one that vanquished the evil bull, what type of connection did you have with him?"

Alena tried not to show how relieved she was that Dragon was focusing on the bulls and not questioning her about Rephaim.

"I don't know if you could really call it a connection, but I thought he was beautiful. He was black, but there was no Darkness about him. He was incredible—like the night sky or my force fields when I'm angry."

"The shield…" Dragon seemed to be thinking aloud. "If the bull reminds you of your power, perhaps that is enough for the two of you to remain connected."

"But we know he's good," Kramisha said. "They's no mystery 'bout that. The poems can't be talkin' 'bout him."

"So?" Alena couldn't hide her irritation. Kramisha just wouldn't leave it alone.

"So, the poem, 'specially the last one, is all about trusting the truth. We already know he's good. You can trust the black bull. Why do you need a poem to tell you that?"

"I do not know."

"I just don't think they's talkin' 'bout the black bull," Kramisha said.

"What else could they be talking about? Those are the only beasts I know." Alena said the words fast, as if speed could take away the lie.

"You said that Montoya has an unusual new affinity, and that he has seemed to go mad. Is that correct?"

Dragon asked.

"Yeah," Alena said.

"The beast reference could be symbolic of Montoya. The poem might mean that you need to trust the

humanity that is still within him," Dragon said.

"I don't know about that," Alena said. "I mean, he was super crazy last time I saw him. I mean he was saying some crazy stuff about that Raven Mocker he saw."

"Council Meeting is being called to session!" Lenobia's voice drifted down the hallway from the open door to the Council Chamber.

"Do you mind if I keep this?" Dragon lifted the piece of paper as they started down the hall. "I'll copy it, and then return it to you, but I'd like a chance to study and consider the poetry more thoroughly."

"Yeah, I guess," Alena said.

"Well, I'm glad we got your brain workin' on this, Dragon," Kramisha said.

"Yeah, me, too," Alena said, trying to sound like she was telling the truth.

Dragon paused. "I won't share this with everybody, only those vampyres I believe could help us understand the poetry's meaning. I understand your wish for privacy."

Everyone went when Lenobia called the Council Meeting to order.


	38. Rephaim 38

The moment before his father appeared the consistency of the air changed.

He'd known Father had returned from the Otherworld the instant it had happened. How could he not have known it? He'd been with Alena.

She'd felt Zoey become whole again just as the knowledge of his father had come to him.

Alena … It had been less than a fortnightsince he'd been in her presence, spoken with her, touched her, but it seemed that their time together had been an eternity ago.

If Rephaim lived for another century he would not forget what had happened between them just before Father had returned to this realm. The human boy in the fountain had been him. It hadn't made rational sense, but that didn't make it any less true.

He'd touched Alena and imagined, for just a heartbeat in time, what could have been.

He could have loved her.

He could have protected her.

He could have chosen Light over Darkness.

But what could have been was not reality—was not to be.

He'd been born of hate and lust, pain and Darkness. He was a monster. Not human. Not

immortal. Not beast. Monster.

Monsters didn't dream. Monsters didn't desire anything except blood and destruction. Monsters

didn't—couldn't—know love or happiness: they weren't created with that ability.

How then was it possible that he missed her?

Why this terrible hollowness in his soul since Alena had been gone? Why did he feel only partially alive without her?

And why did he long to be better, stronger, wiser, and _good, truly good _for her?

Could he be going mad?

Rephaim paced back and forth across the rooftop balcony of the deserted Gilcrease mansion. It was past midnight and the museum grounds were quiet, but since the cleanup after the ice storm had begun in earnest, the place was becoming busier and busier during daylight hours.

_I'm going to have to leave and find another place. A safer place. I should leave Tulsa and make a stronghold in the wilderness of this enormous country. _

He knew that was the wise thingto do, the rational thing to do, but somethingcompelled him to stay.

Rephaim told himself it was simply that he hoped now that his father had returned to this realm, he would also return to Tulsa, and he was waiting here for him to come back—to give him a purpose and a direction.

But in the deepest recesses of his heart he knew the truth. He didn't want to leave this place because Alena was here, and even though he couldn't allow himself to contact her, she was still near, reachable, if only he dared.

Then, in the middle of his pacing and his selfrecriminations, the air around him became heavy, thick with an immortal power that Rephaim knew as well as his own name.

Something tugged within him, as if the power that floated in the night had attached itself to him and was using him as an anchor to pull itself ever nearer.

Rephaim braced himself, physically and mentally, concentrated on the illusive immortal magick, and willingly accepted the connection, not minding that it was painful and draining and filled him with a suffocating wave of claustrophobia.

The night sky above him darkened. The wind increased, battering Rephaim.

The Raven Mocker stood his ground.

When the magnificent winged immortal, his father, Kalona, deposed Warrior of Nyx, swooped down from the heavens and landed before him, Rephaim automatically dropped to his knees, bowing in allegiance.

"I was surprised to feel that you remained here," Kalona said without giving his son permission to rise. "Why did you not follow me to Italy?"

Head still bowed, Rephaim answered. "I was mortally wounded. I have only just recovered. I thought it wise to await you here."

"Wounded? Yes, I recall. A gunshot and a fall from the sky. You may rise, Rephaim."

"Thank you, Father." Rephaim stood and faced his father, and then was glad his face didn't betray emotions easily. Kalona looked as if he had been ill!

His bronze skin had a sallow tint to it. His unusual amber eyes were shadowed by dark circles. He even looked thin. "Are you well, Father?"

"Of course I am well; I am an immortal!" the winged being snapped. Then he sighed and brushed a hand wearily across his face. "She held me within the earth. I was already wounded, and being trapped by that element made my recovery before my release impossible—and since then it has been slow."

"So Neferet did entrap you." Carefully, Rephaim kept his tone neutral.

"She did, but I could not have been so easily imprisoned had Zoey Redbird not attacked my spirit," he said bitterly.

"Yet the fledgling lives," Rephaim said.

"She does!" Kalona roared, towering over his son and causing the Raven Mocker to stumble backward. But just as quickly as his rage exploded, it fizzled, leaving the immortal looking tired again.

He blew out a long breath, and in a more reasonable voice repeated, "Yes, Zoey does live, though I believe she will be forever changed by her Otherworld experience." Kalona stared off into the night.

"Everyone who spends time in Nyx's realm is altered by it."

"So Nyx did allow you to enter the Otherworld?" Rephaim couldn't stop from asking. He steeled himself for his father's reprimand, but when Kalona spoke, his voice was surprisingly introspective, almost gentle.

"She did. And I saw her. Once. Briefly. It was because of the Goddess's intervention that that gods-be-damned Stark is still breathing and walking the earth."

"Stark followed Zoey to the Otherworld, and he lives?"

"He lives, although he shouldn't." As Kalona spoke he absently rubbed a spot on his chest, over his heart. "I suspect those meddling bulls have something to do with his survival."

"The black and white bulls? Darkness and Light?"

Rephaim tasted the bile of fear at the back of his throat as he remembered the slick, eerie coat of the white bull, the unending evil in his eyes, and the white-hot pain the creature had caused him.

"What is it?" Kalona's perceptive gaze skewered his son. "Why do you look thus?"

"They manifested here, in Tulsa, just over a week ago."

"What brought them here?"

Rephaim hesitated, his heart beating painfully in his chest. What could he admit? What could he say?

"Rephaim, speak!"

"It was the daughter of the Red One—the young Vampyre. She invoked the presence of the bulls. It was the white bull who gave her the knowledge that helped Stark find the way to the Otherworld."

"How do you know this?" Kalona's voice was like death.

"I witnessed part of the invocation. I was wounded so badly that I did not believe I would recover, that I would ever fly again. When the white bull manifested, it strengthened me and drew me to its circle. That was where I observed the Red One getting her information from it."

"You were healed, but you didn't capture the daughter of the Red One? Didn't stop her before she could return to the House of Night and aid Stark?"

"I could not stop her. The black bull manifested and Light banished Darkness, protecting the daughter of the Red One," he said honestly. "I have been here since, regaining my strength and, when I felt that you had returned to this realm, I have been awaiting you." Kalona stared at his son.

Rephaim met his gaze steadily.

Kalona nodded slowly. "It is good that you awaited me here. There is much that is left undone in Tulsa. This House of Night will soon belong to the Tsi Sgili."

"Neferet has returned, too? Is the High Council not holding her?"

Kalona laughed. "The High Council is made up of naïve fools. The Tsi Sgili blamed me for recent events, and has punished me by publically lashing me and then banishing me from her side. The

Council has been pacified."

Shocked, Rephaim shook his head. His father's tone was light, almost humorous, but his look was black—his body weakened and wounded. "Father, I do not understand. Lashed? You allowed Neferet to —"

With immortal speed, Kalona's hand was suddenly around his son's throat. The huge Raven Mocker was lifted off the ground as if he weighed no more than one of his slim, black feathers.

"Do not make the mistake of believing that because I have been wounded I have also become weak."

"I would not do that." Rephaim's voice was little more than a choked hiss.

Their faces were close together. Kalona's amber eyes blazed with angry heat.

"Father," Rephaim gasped. "I meant you no disrespect."

Kalona dropped him, and his son crumpled at his feet. The immortal lifted his head and threw his arms wide as if he would take on the heavens. "She still imprisons me!" he shouted.

Rephaim drew in air and rubbed his throat, then his father's words penetrated the confusion in his mind and he looked up at him. The immortal's face was twisted as if in agony—his eyes were haunted.

Rephaim slowly got to his feet, and approached him carefully. "What has she done?"

Kalona's arms fell to his sides, but his face remained open to the sky. "I pledged to her my oath that I would destroy Zoey Redbird. The fledgling lives. I broke my oath."

Rephaim's blood felt cold. "The oathbreaking held a penalty."

He didn't phrase it as a question, but Kalona nodded. "It did."

"What is it you owe Neferet?"

"She holds dominion over my spirit for as long as I am immortal."

"By all the gods and goddesses, we are both lost then!" Rephaim couldn't stop the escaping words.

Kalona turned to him and his son saw that a sly glint had replaced the rage in his eyes. "Neferet has been immortal for less than a breath of this world's time. I have been so for uncountable eons. If there is one lesson I have learned over several lifetimes, it is that there is nothing that is unbreakable. Nothing. Not the strongest heart, not the purest soul—not even the most binding of oaths."

"You know how to break her dominion over you?"

"No, but I do know that if I give her what she most desires, she will be distracted while I discover how to break the oath I made her."

"Father," Rephaim said hesitantly, "there are always consequences for an oathbreaking. Will you not simply incur another if you break this second oath?"

"I cannot think of a consequence I would not gladly pay to rid myself of Neferet's domination."

The cold, deadly anger in Kalona's voice caused Rephaim's throat to go dry. He knew when his father got like this, the only thing he could do was to agree with him, to aid him in whatever he sought, to ride the storm silently, mindlessly, at Kalona's side.

He was used to Kalona's volatile emotions.

What Rephaim was not used to was feeling resentful of them.

Rephaim could sense the immortal's gaze studying him. The Raven Mocker cleared his throat and said what he knew his father expected to hear.

"What is it that Neferet most desires and how do we give it to her?"

Kalona's expression relaxed a little. "The Tsi Sgili most desires lording power over humans. We give it to her by helping her begin a war between vampyres and humans. She means to use the war as an excuse for the destruction of the High Council. With them gone, vampyre society will be in disarray and Neferet, using the title of Nyx Incarnate, will rule."

"But vampyres have become too rational, too civilized, to war with humans. I think they would withdraw from society before they would fight."

"True enough for most vampyres, but you're forgetting the new breed of bloodsucker the Tsi Sgili created. They do not seem to have the same scruples."

"The red fledglings," Rephaim said.

"Ah, but they aren't all fledglings, are they? I hear another of the boys has Changed. And then there is the new High Priestess, the Red One, and her daughter who has also Changed the time the Red One changed. I am not so sure that the Red's One daughter is as dedicated to Light as is her friend

Zoey."

Rephaim felt like a giant fist was closing around his heart. "Her daughther evoked the black bull—the manifestation of Light. I do not think she can be swayed from the Goddess's path."

"You said she also conjured the bull of Darkness, did you not?"

"I did, but from what I observed she did not call upon Darkness intentionally."

Kalona laughed. "Neferet has told me that Stevie Rae was quite different when she first was resurrected. The Red One reveled in Darkness and so did all of her fledglings!"

"And then she and her daughter Changed, like Stark. They're all committed to Nyx now."

"No, what Stark is committed to is Zoey Redbird. I do not believe the daughter of the Red One has formed any such attachment."

Carefully, Rephaim remained silent.

"The more I think on it, the more I like the idea. Neferet gains power if we use the Red One and her fledgling and vampyre, and Zoey loses someone close to her friend. Yes, that pleases me. Very much."

Rephaim was trying to sift through the mixture of panic and fear and chaos in his mind and conjure a response that might distract Kalona from his pursuit of Alena when the air around them rippled and changed.

Shadows within shadows appeared to quiver briefly but ecstatically. His questioning eyes went from the Darkness lurking in the corners of the rooftop, to his father. Kalona nodded and smiled grimly.

"The Tsi Sgili has paid her debt to Darkness; she has sacrificed the life of an innocent who could not be tainted."

Rephaim's blood pounded in his ears, and for an instant he was savagely, incredibly afraid for Alena.

And then he realized _No, it could not be Alena Neferet has sacrificed. Alena has been tainted by Darkness. For now, from this one threat, she is safe._

"Who is it Neferet has killed?" Rephaim was so distracted by relief, he spoke the words without thinking.

"What possible difference could it make to you who the Tsi Sgili sacrificed?"

Rephaim's mind refocused on the here and now swiftly. "I am simply curious."

"I feel a change in you, my son."

Rephaim met his father's gaze steadily. "I came close to death, Father. It was a sobering experience.

You must remember that I only share a measure of your immortality. The rest of me is human and, therefore, mortal."

Kalona nodded briefly in acknowledgment. "I do forget that you are weakened by the humanity within you."

"Mortality, not humanity. I am not humane," he said bitterly.

Kalona studied him. "How did you manage to survive your wounds?"

Rephaim looked away from his father and answered as truthfully as possible. "I am not entirely sure how or even why I survived."

_I will never_ _understand why Alena saved me, _his mind added silently. "Much of that time remains a blur for me."

"The how is not important. The why is obvious— you survived to serve me, as you have done your entire life."

"Yes, Father," he said automatically. Then, to cover the hopelessness even he could hear in his voice, he added, "And in serving you I must tell you that you and I cannot remain here."

Kalona raised his brow questioningly. "What is it you are saying?"

"This place," his arm swept around them to take in Gilcrease grounds. "There are too many humans present since the ice has gone. We cannot stay here." Rephaim drew a deep breath and continued.

"Perhaps it would be wisest for you and me to leave Tulsa for a time."

"Of course we cannot leave Tulsa. I have already explained to you that I must distract the Tsi Sgili so that I can free myself from her bondage. That is best done here, using the Red One and her fledglings. But you are correct to note that this place is not adequate for us."

"Then would it not behoove us to leave the city until we can discover a better location?"

"Why do you continue this insistence that we depart here when I have made it clear to you that we must remain?"

Rephaim drew a deep breath and said only, "I grow weary of the city."

"Then draw on the reserves of strength you have within you as legacy from my blood!" Kalona commanded, clearly annoyed. "We remain in Tulsa for as long as it takes to achieve my objective. Neferet has already considered where I should stay. She demands that I am close, but she knows I must not be seen, at least not right away." Kalona paused, grimacing in obvious anger at being so thoroughly controlled by the Tsi Sgili. "We will move, tonight, to the building Neferet has acquired. Soon we will begin hunting the red fledglings and Vampyres, and their High Priestess." Kalona's gaze shifted to his son's wings.

"You are able to fly again, are you not?"

"I am, Father."

"Then, enough of this useless talk. Let us take to the sky and begin climbing toward our future, and our freedom."

The immortal spread his massive wings and leaped from the roof of the deserted Gilcrease Manor. Rephaim hesitated, trying to think—to breathe—to understand what he was going to do.

From the corner of the rooftop an image flickered and the little blond spirit that had been haunting him since he'd arrived, broken and bleeding, manifested.

"_You can't let your father hurt her. You know that, right?"_

"For the last time, begone, apparition," Rephaim said as he unfurled his wings and prepared to follow

his father.

"_You have to help Alena."_

Rephaim rounded on her. "Why do I have to? I'm a monster—she can be nothing to me."

The child smiled. _"Too late, she already means something to you. Plus there's another reason you have to help her."_

"Why?" Rephaim asked wearily.

"_Because you're not all monster. You're part boy and that means someday you'll die. When you die, there's only one thing you take with you into forever."_

"And what is that?"

Her grin was radiant. _"Love, silly! You get to take love with you. So you see, you have to save her or you'll regret it forever and ever."_

Rephaim stared at the girl. "Thank you," he said softly just before he vaulted into darkness.


	39. Stevie Rae 39

"I think y'all should give Zoey a break. After what she's been through she could use a vacation,"

Stevie Rae said.

"If that's all it is," Erik said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Word is she isn't planning on coming back. At all."

"That's just plain silly."

"Have you talked to her?" Erik asked.

"No, have you?" she countered.

"No."

"Actually, Erik brings up a valid point," Lenobia said. "No one has talked with Zoey. Jack said that she's not returning. I've spoken with Aphrodite. She and Darius are, indeed, arriving soon. Zoey is not making or taking calls."

"Zoey is tired. Stark is still messed up. Isn't that what Jack reported?" Stevie Rae said.

"Yes," Dragon Lankford said. "But the truth is, we have barely spoken to Zoey since her return from the Otherworld."

"Okay, seriously, why is this such a big deal? You're acting like Z is some truant bad kid, and not a kick-ass High Priestess."

"Well, for one thing, it concerns us because she does have so much power. With power comes responsibility. You know that," Lenobia said. "And then there is the issue of Neferet and Kalona."

"Here I must speak," Professor Penthasilea said.

"I am not the only one of us to have received the High Council's most recent message. There is no Neferet _and _Kalona. Neferet has broken with her Consort since his spirit returned to his body and he regained consciousness. Neferet had him publically lashed, and then banished from her side, and from vampyre society for one century. Neferet spearheaded his punishment for the crime of killing the human boy. The High Council ruled that Kalona, and not Neferet, was responsible for the crime."

"Yes, we know that, but—," Lenobia began.

"What are y'all talkin' about?" Stevie Rae interrupted, feeling like her head was going to explode.

"Looks like we ain't on the email list," Kramisha said, looking every bit as freaked out as Stevie Rae.

As the clock outside began to chime midnight, Neferet stepped from within the hidden door that was the High Priestess's entrance to the Tulsa Council Chamber. She moved with purpose to the huge round table. Her voice was whip-like and full of confidence and command.

"I see I have returned none too soon. Would someone please explain to me why we have begun allowing fledglings access to our Council Meetings?"

"Kramisha is more than just a fledgling. She's a

Poet Laureate and a Prophetess. Alena is not a fledgling but a fully Changed Vampyre. Add to that the fact that _I'm _a High Priestess and I've invited her—all that gives her the right to be in this Council Meeting."

Stevie Rae swallowed the sick fear that came with confronting Neferet and was incredibly relieved that her voice sounded steady when she finally freed the words from the back of her throat. "And why aren't you in jail for Heath's murder?"

"Jail?" Neferet's laughter was cruel. "What impudence! I am a High Priestess, one who has earned that title and not simply been given it by default."

"And yet you avoid the question of your culpability in the human's murder," Dragon said. "I, too, did not receive communication from the Vampyre High Council. I would like an explanation of your presence, and why you were not held responsible for the behavior of your Consort."

Stevie Rae expected Neferet to explode at Dragon's questioning, but instead her expression softened and her green eyes filled with pity. Neferet's voice was warm and understanding when

she answered the Sword Master. "I imagine the High Council is holding your communication because they are cognizant that you are still grieving deeply for your lost mate."

Dragon's face paled, but his blue eyes hardened.

"I did not lose Anastasia. She was taken from me. Murdered by a creature who was the creation of your Consort, acting under his command."

"I understand how your grief can taint judgment, but you need to know that Rephaim and the other Raven Mockers were not under orders to harm anyone. On the contrary, they were commanded to _protect. _When Zoey and her friends set the House of Night afire and stole our horses, they took that as an attack. They simply reacted."

Stevie Rae and Lenobia shared a quick look that telegraphed _don't let them know who was in on what,_ and Stevie Rae kept her mouth shut, refusing to give up Lenobia's part in Zoey's "escape."

"They killed my mate," Dragon said, pulling everyone's attention to him. "And for that I will be eternally sorry," Neferet said.

"Anastasia was a good friend to me."

"You chased Zoey and Darius and the rest of the gang," Stevie Rae said. "You threatened us. You commanded Stark to shoot Zoey. How do you excuse all of that?"

Neferet's beautiful face seemed to crumple. She leaned on the table, and sobbed softly. "I know … I

know. I was weak. I let the winged immortal taint my mind. He said Zoey had to be destroyed, and because I believed he was Erebus Incarnate, I also believed him."

"That's bullshit, we all know who you_ really_ are," Alena said.

Neferet's emerald eyes skewered her. "Have you never cared for someone, only to find out later that he was truly a monster in disguise?"

Alena felt all the blood drain from her face. She answered the only way she knew how—with the truth. "What I've learned in my life, monsters don't disguise themselves."

"You did not answer my question, young Vampyre."

Alena lifted her chin.

"No, I haven't. And if this is about Montoya, I never expected him to turn to Darkness and go all crazy."

Neferet's smile was sly. "Yes, I heard about Dallas. So sad … so sad."

"Neferet, I still need to understand the ruling of the High Council. As Sword Master and Leader of the Sons of Erebus at this House of Night, I am entitled to be kept informed regarding anything that might compromise the security of our school, whether I am in mourning or not," Dragon said, looking pale but determined.

"You are quite right, Sword Master. It is really very simple. When the immortal's soul returned to his body, he confessed to me that he killed the human boy because he thought Heath's hatred for me was a threat."

Neferet shook her head, looking sad and contrite. "The poor child had somehow convinced himself that I was to blame for the deaths of Professor Nolan and Loren Blake. Kalona believed that by executing Heath, he was protecting me." She shook her head. "He had been apart from this world for too long. He truly did not understand the human could pose no threat to me. His action in executing Heath was simply a misguided Warrior protecting his High Priestess, which is why the High Council and I have been so merciful in his punishment. As some of you are already aware, Kalona was flogged one hundred strokes and then banished from vampyre society and my side for one full century."

There was a long stretch of silence, then Penthasilea said, "It seems like this entire debacle has been one tragic misunderstanding after another, but surely we have all paid enough for what has happened in the past. What is important now is that the school reconvene and we all get on with our lives."

"I bow to your wisdom and experience, Professor Penthasilea," Neferet said, inclining her head respectfully. Then she turned to face Dragon. "This has, indeed, been a difficult time for many of us, but you have paid the greatest price, Sword Master. So it is you I must look to for absolution for my mistakes, both personal and professional. Can you possibly lead the House of Night into a new era, creating a Phoenix from the ashes of our heartache?"

Stevie Rae wanted to scream at Dragon that Neferet was fooling them all—that what had happened at the House of Night wasn't a tragic mistake; it was a tragic misuse of power by Neferet and Kalona. But her heart sank as she watched Dragon bow his head and in an utterly heartbroken and defeated voice say, "I would like us all to move on, for if we do not, I'm afraid I will not survive the loss of my mate."

Lenobia looked like she wanted to speak up, but when Dragon began to sob brokenly, she kept silent and moved to his side to comfort him.

_That leaves me to stand up to Neferet, _Stevie Rae thought, and glanced at Kramisha and Alena, who were watching Neferet with a barely veiled what-the-fuck look. _Okay, so that leaves me and Kramisha to_ _stand up to Neferet, _Stevie Rae corrected inside her head. She squared her shoulders and readied herself for the epic confrontation that was sure to come when she called bullshit on the fallen High Priestess.

At that moment a weird noise drifted into the Council Chamber from the window that had been left open to the crisp night air. It was a horrible, mournful sound, and it caused the small hairs on Stevie Rae's arms to lift.

"What is that?" Stevie Rae said, her head turned —along with everyone else's—to the open window.

"I never heard nothin' like it," Kramisha said. "And it gives me the creeps."

"It's an animal. And it's in pain." Dragon instantly pulled himself together, his expression shifted, and he was, once again, a Warrior and not a heartbroken mate. He got to his feet and crossed the Council Chamber to the window.

"A cat?" Penthasilea said, looking distressed.

"I can't see it from here. It's coming from the east side of campus," Dragon said, turning from the window and heading to the door purposefully.

"Oh, Goddess! I think I know the sound." Tragic and broken, Neferet's voice had them all turning their attention back to her. "It's the howling of a dog, and the only canine on this campus is Stark's Labrador, Duchess. Has something happened to Stark?"

Stevie Rae watched Neferet press one slim hand against her throat, as if to hold back the pounding of her heart at the terrible thought that something could have happened to Stark.

Stevie Rae wanted to slap her. Neferet could have received a dang Academy Award for Best Fake Tragic Performance by a Lead Bitch. _That's it. _She wasn't going to let her get away with this crap.

But Stevie Rae didn't get a chance to confront Neferet. The moment Dragon opened the door to the hallway a cacophony of sound flooded everyone. Fledglings were rushing toward the Council Chamber. Most of them were crying and shouting, but above all of the noise—above even the horrible howling—one sound became distinctly recognizable: that of a person keening in grief.

Within the grief, Stevie Rae recognized the voice.

"Oh, no," she said, rushing down the hallway. "That's Damien."

Stevie Rae was ahead of even Dragon, and when she wrenched open the outside door of the school, she barreled into Drew Partain with such force that both of them tumbled to the ground. "Jeeze Louise, Drew! Get outta my—"

"Jack's dead!" Drew shouted, scrambling to his feet and pulling her up with him. "Over there by the broken tree at the east wall. It's bad. Really bad. Hurry—Damien needs you!"

Stevie Rae felt a surge of nausea as she processed what Drew was saying. And then she was swept with Drew in a tide of vampyres and fledglings as they all rushed across campus.

When Stevie Rae got to the tree she had a terrible moment of déjà vu. The blood. There was so much blood everywhere! She flashed back to the night Stark's arrow had opened her body and drained practically all of her life's blood out of it at this very spot.

Only this time it wasn't her. This time it was kind, sweet Jack and he really was dead, so it was terrible times ten. For a second the scene didn't seem to make sense to her because no one moved —no one spoke.

There were no sounds except Duchess's howling and Damien's keening. The boy and the dog were crouched beside Jack, who lay, facedown, on the blood-soaked grass, with the point of a long sword protruding several feet from the back of his neck. It had run through him with such force that it had almost severed his head from his body.

"Oh, Goddess! What has happened here?" It was Neferet who unfroze everyone. She hurried up to Jack, bending to rest her hand gently on his body.

"The fledgling is dead," she said solemnly. Damien looked up. Stevie Rae saw his eyes.

They were filled with pain and horror and maybe, just maybe, even a shadow of madness. As he stared at Neferet she watched his already pale face blanch almost colorless, and that jolted her.

"I'm thinkin' you should leave him alone," Stevie Rae said, moving so that she stood between Neferet and Jack and Damien.

"Damien, I know you are in shock, but you must get control of yourself and tell us how this happened to Jack." Neferet asked, ignoring Stevie Rae' stance

Damien blinked blindly at Neferet, and then Stevie Rae saw his vision clear and he focused on her. He snatched his hand from hers. Shaking his head back and forth, back and forth, he started sobbing, "No! No! No!"

That was it. Stevie Rae had had enough. She didn't care if the whole damn universe couldn't see through Neferet's bullshit. She wasn't gonna let her terrorize poor Damien.

"What happened? _You're _asking what happened? Like it's just a coincidence that Jack is murdered at the same time you show up back here at school?"

Stevie moved back to Damien's side, taking his hand. "You can trick-or-treat the blind-as-bats High Council. You can even talk some of these good folks into believin' you're still on our side, but Damien and Zoey and Alena and Kramisha and"—she paused when she heard two very similar gasps of horror as the Twins ran up. "—and Shaunee and Erin and Stark and I. We do not effing believe you're a good guy. So why don't _you _explain what happened here?"

Neferet shook her head, looking sad and tragically beautiful. "I feel sorry for you, Stevie Rae. You used to be such a sweet, loving fledgling. I do not know what happened to you."

Stevie Rae felt rage rush through her. Her body trembled with the force of it. "You know better than anyone on this earth what happened to me." She couldn't help herself. The anger was too much.

Stevie Rae started to move toward Neferet. At that moment she wanted nothing so much as to wrap her hands around the vampyre's throat and press and press and press until she no longer breathed—was no longer a threat.

But Damien didn't loosen his hold on her hand.

That link of touch and trust between them, as well as Damien's broken whisper, held her back. "She didn't do it. I saw it happen and she didn't do it."

Stevie Rae hesitated, glancing down at Damien.

"What do you mean, honey?"

"I was way over there. Just outside the field house door. Duchess wouldn't let me jog. She kept pulling me back toward here. I finally gave in to her."

Damien's voice was rough and he spoke in sharp bursts of words. "She made me worried. So I was looking. I saw it." He started to sob again. "I saw Jack fall from the top of the ladder and land on the sword. There was no one around him. No one at all."

Stevie Rae turned to Damien and pulled him into her arms. As she did so she felt two more pairs of arms enfolding them as the Twins and Alena joined their circle, holding them tightly.

"Neferet was with us in the Council Chamber when this horrible accident happened," Dragon said solemnly, touching Jack's hair gently. "She was not responsible for this death."

Stevie Rae couldn't look at Jack's poor broken body, so she was watching Neferet when Dragon spoke. Only she saw the flash of smug victory that passed over her face, quickly replaced by a practiced look of sadness and concern.

_She killed him. I don't know how, and I can't prove it right now, but she did. _Then, as quickly as thatthought formed, another came on its heels: _Zoey would believe me. She'd help me figure out how to expose Neferet._

_Zoey has to come back._


	40. Rephaim 40

The Raven Mocker let himself fall from the seventeenth-story rooftop of the Mayo building.

Wings outstretched, he soared over the city center, his dark plumage making him almost invisible.

_As if humans ever looked up—poor, earthbound creatures. Odd that even though Stevie Rae was earthbound, he never thought of her as one of the rest of the unwinged, pathetic horde._

_Alena … _His flight faltered. His speed slowed. _No. Don't think of her now. I have to get well_ _away first and be certain my thoughts are my own._ _Father must not guess anything is amiss. And_ _Neferet can never, ever know._

Rephaim closed his mind to everything except the night sky and purposefully made a long, slow circle, assuring himself Kalona had not changed his mind and defied Neferet to join him.

When he knew he had the night to himself, he positioned himself so that he was headed northeast on a flight path that would take him first to the old Tulsa depot and then to Will Rogers High School and the scene of supposed gang violence that had recently been plaguing that part of the city.

He agreed with Neferet that the cause of the attacks was most likely the rogue red fledglings.

That was all he agreed with Neferet on, though.

Rephaim flew soundlessly and quickly to the abandoned depot building. Circling it, he used his sharp vision to look for even a breath of movement that might betray the presence of any vampyre or fledgling, red or blue. He studied the building with an odd mixture of anticipation and reluctance.

What would he do if Alena had come back and reclaimed the basement and the labyrinthine series of tunnels below it for her fledglings?

Would he be able to remain silent and invisible in the night sky, or would he let himself be known to her?

Before he could formulate an answer a truth came to him: he wouldn't have to make that decision.

Alena wasn't there at the depot. He would know if she was near. The knowledge settled over him like a shroud, and with a long exhalation of breath Rephaim dropped to the roof of the depot.

Finally completely alone, he allowed himself to think of the terrible avalanche of events that had begun that day. Rephaim folded his wings tightly to his back and paced.

The Tsi Sgili was weaving a web of fate that could unravel Rephaim's world. Father was going to use Stevie Rae, Alena and the rest of the fledglings in his war with Neferet for dominion over his spirit.

_Father would use anyone to win that war._

The moment after Rephaim had the thought he instantly rejected it, automatically reacting as he would have before Alena had entered his life.

"Entered my life?" Rephaim laughed humorlessly.

"It's more like she entered my soul and my body." He paused in his pacing, remembering how it'd felt to have the beautiful, clean power of the earth flow into and heal him. He shook his head. "Not for me," he told the night. "My place is not with her; it is impossible. My place is as it has always been, with my father in the Darkness."

Rephaim stared down at his hand, resting on the rusted edge of a metal grate. He wasn't man or vampyre, immortal or human. He was monster.

But did that mean he could look idly on as Alena was used by his father and abused by the Tsi Sgili?

Or worse, could he take part in her capture?

_She wouldn't betray me. Even if I captured her, Alena wouldn't betray our connection._

Still staring at his hand, Rephaim realized where it was he was standing, on which grate his hand was resting, and he jerked back. It was here that the rogue red fledglings had entrapped them—here that

Alena had almost lost her life—and here that she'd been so mortally wounded he had allowed her to drink from him … Imprint with him …

"By all the gods, if only I could take it back!" he shouted to the sky. The words echoed around him, repeating, mocking. His shoulders slumped and his head bowed as his hand smoothed over the surface of the rough iron grate. "What am I supposed to do?"

Rephaim whispered the question.

No answer came, but he didn't expect one.

Instead he withdrew his touch from the unforgiving iron and collected himself.

"I will do what I have always done. I will follow the commands of my father. If I can do that and, at least by some small measure, protect Alena, then so be it. If I cannot protect her, then so be it. My path was chosen at my conception. I cannot deviate from it now." His words sounded as cold as the January night, but his heart felt hot, as if what he had said made his blood boil at the core of his body.

With no more hesitation, Rephaim leaped from the roof of the depot and continued on his easterly route, flying the short miles from downtown to Will Rogers High School. The main building was set on a little rise beside an open field space.

It was large and rectangular and made of light-colored brick that looked like sand in the moonlight. He was drawn to the centralmost part of the structure, the first of two large, ornately carved square towers lifting from it.

That was where he landed. That was also where he immediately assumed a defensive crouch.

He could smell them. The scent of the rogue fledglings was everywhere. Moving stealthily,

Rephaim positioned himself so he could peer down at the front grounds of the school. He saw a few trees, large and small, a long expanse of lawn, and nothing else.

Rephaim waited. It wasn't long. He knew it wouldn't be. Dawn was too close. So he'd expected to see the fledglings—he just hadn't expected to see them walk boldly up to the front door of the school, reeking of fresh blood and led by the newly Changed Montoya.

Nicole was wrapped around him. That big, dumb Kurtis obviously thought he was some kind of

bodyguard because while Montoya pressed his hand against one of the rust-colored steel doors, the oversized fledgling stood at the edge of the concrete steps, looking out and holding a gun as if he thought he knew what to do with it.

Rephaim shook his head in disgust. Kurtis didn't look up. None of the fledglings, or even Montoya, looked up. He was no longer the broken creature they'd captured and used; they had no idea how pathetically vulnerable they were to his attack.

But Rephaim didn't attack. He waited and watched.

There was a sizzling sound and Nicole ground briefly against Montoya. "Oh, yeah, baby! Work your magic." Her voice lifted in the night as Montoya laughed and pulled the no longer locked or alarmed door open.

"Let's go," Montoya told Nicole, sounding older and harder than Rephaim remembered. "Dawn's close and there's somethin' you got to take care of before the sun rises."

Nicole rubbed her hand down the front of his pants while the rest of the red fledglings laughed.

"Then let's get us down to those basement tunnels so I can get going on it."

She led the fledglings inside the school. Montoya waited outside until they were all in, then followed them, closing the door. In another moment Rephaim heard a sizzling sound like before and then all was quiet.

And when, in the next moment, the security guard drove lazily by, all was still quiet. He, too, didn't look up to see the enormous Raven Mocker crouched on the top of the school's tower.

When the guard drove away Rephaim leaped into the night, his mind whirring in time with the beating of his wings.

Monotya was leading the rogue red fledglings.

He was controlling the modern magick of this world and it somehow allowed him access to buildings.

Will Rogers High School was where they were making their nest.

Alena would want to know that. She would need to know that. She still felt responsible for them, even though they had tried to kill her. And Montoya, what did she still feel for him?

Just thinking about seeing her in Montoya's arms made him angry. But she'd chosen _him _over Montoya. Clearly and completely.

Not that that made any difference now.

It was then that Rephaim realized the direction he'd been flying was too far south to take him back to the downtown Mayo. Instead he was gliding over midtown Tulsa, passing the dimly lit abbey of the Benedictine nuns, cutting over Utica Square, and silently approaching the stone wall–protected campus.

His flight faltered.

Vampyres would look up.

Rephaim beat against the night air, lifting up and up. Then, too high to be easily seen, he skirted the campus, diving soundlessly outside the east wall into a pool of shadow between streetlights. From there he moved from shadow to shadow, using the darkness of his feathers to blend with the night.

He heard the eerie howling before he reached the wall. It was a sound so filled with despair and heartbreak that it cut even him to the bone. _What is_ _making that terrible howl?_

He knew the answer almost as quickly as he'd formulated the thought. The dog. Stark's dog. During one of her sessions of nonstop talking, Alena had told him how one of her friends, the boy named Jack, had more or less taken ownership of Stark's dog when he'd turned into a red fledgling, and how close the boy and the dog had become and what a good thing she thought that was for both of them because the dog was so smart and Jack was so sweet.

As he remembered Alena's words, everything slid into place. By the time he reached the school's boundary and heard the crying that accompanied the terrible howling, Rephaim knew what he'd see when he carefully and quietly scaled the wall and peered down at the scene of devastation before him.

He looked. He couldn't stop himself. He wanted to see Alena—just see her. After all, he couldn't do anything except look—Rephaim definitely couldn't allow any of the vampyres to see him.

He'd been correct; the innocent whose blood had fulfilled Neferet's debt to Darkness had been Alena's friend Jack.

Under the shattered tree through which Kalona had escaped his earthen prison, a boy knelt, sobbing "Jack!" over and over beside a howling dog in the middle of bloodstained grass. The body wasn't still there, but the bloodstain was.

Rephaim wondered if anyone else would be able to detect the fact that there was a lot less blood than there should have been.

Darkness had fed deeply from Neferet's gift.

Beside the weeping boy the school's Sword Master, Dragon Lankford, stood silently, his hand on his shoulder. The three of them were alone.

Alena wasn't there. Rephaim was trying to convince himself that was for the best. It really was a good thing that she hadn't been there—maybe hadn't seen him—when a wave of feelings slammed into him: sadness, worry, and hurt foremost among them.

Then, arms filled with a big wheat-colored cat Alena rushed up to the mourning trio.

It was so good to see her that Rephaim almost forgot to breathe.

"Duchess, please, you have to stop this." Her distinctly accented voice washed over him like a spring rain in the desert. He watched her crouch beside the big dog, depositing the cat between her legs. The feline instantly started rubbing against the dog, as if he were trying to wipe away her pain.

Rephaim blinked in surprise when the dog actually quieted and began

licking the cat. "There's a good girl. Luna can help you. She'll always help you." Alena looked up at the Sword Master. Rephaim saw him nod almost imperceptibly.

She turned her attention to the sobbing boy. Digging into the pocket of herskirt, she pulled out a wad of tissues, and handed it to him. "Damien, sweetie, you have stop this too. You're gonna make yourself sick. Jack wouldn't want you like this. No one wants you like this."

Damien took the tissue and wiped quickly across his face. In a shaking voice he said, "I d-don't care."

Alena touched his cheek. "I know you don't care, but your cat needs you, and so does Duchess. Jack would be real upset if he saw you like this."

"Jack won't ever see me again." Damien had stopped crying, but his voice sounded terrible. It seemed to Rephaim that he could hear the boy's heart breaking within it.

"You know you don't believe that, not any of it," Alena said firmly.

Damien looked at her with haunted eyes. "I can't think right now, Alena. All I can do is feel."

"Some of the sadness will pass," Dragon said in a voice that sounded as heartbroken as Damien's.

"Enough so that you will be able to think again."

"That's right. Listen to Dragon. Remember there is an Otherworld. Jack's there now with Nyx. Someday you'll see him again there." Damien looked from Alena to the Sword Master.

"Have you been able to do that? Does it make losing Anastasia any easier?"

"Nothing makes her loss easier. Right now I am still searching for the thread to our Goddess."

Rephaim felt a horribly sick jolt within him as he realized _he _had caused the pain the Sword Master was feeling. He had killed the spells and rituals professor, Anastasia Lankford. She had been Dragon's mate. He had done it so coldly, with an absolute lack of any feeling except, perhaps, annoyance at being detained for the short time it had taken him to overpower and destroy her.

_I killed her with no thought for anything or anyone except my need to follow Father, to do his bidding. I am a monster._

Rephaim couldn't stop looking at the Sword Master. He carried his pain like a cloak around him.

He could almost literally see the empty hole his mate's absence had left in his life. And Rephaim, for the first time in his centuries-long life, felt remorse for his actions.

He didn't think he'd made any sound, any movement, but he knew when Alena's gaze found him. Slowly, he looked from Dragon to the vampyre with whom he was Imprinted.

Their eyes met; their gazes locked. Her emotions engulfed him as if she'd purposely directed them to him. First, he felt her shock at seeing him. It left him flushed and almost embarrassed. Then he felt sadness—deep, jagged, painful. He tried to telegraph his own sorrow to her, hoping that somehow she would be able to understand how much he missed her and how sorry he was for having any part in the grief she was experiencing.

Anger hit him then with such a force Rephaim almost lost his grip on the stone wall. He shook his head back and forth, back and forth, not sure whether it was in denial of her anger, or the reason for it.

"I want you and Duchess to come with me,

Damien. This place isn't good for you. Bad things have happened here. Bad things are still here. I can feel it. Let's go. Now." She spoke to the kneeling boy, but her gaze never left Rephaim's.

The Sword Master's response was swift. His eyes swept the area and Rephaim froze, willing the shadows and the night to cloak him.

"What is it? What's here?" Dragon asked.

"Darkness." Stevie Rae was still staring at him when she spoke that single word as if throwing a dagger into his heart. "Tainted, unredeemable Darkness." Then she turned her back on him dismissively.

"It's not anything worth wasting your time on, but let's just leave."

"Agreed," Dragon said, though Rephaim heard reluctance in his voice.

_He will be a force to be reckoned with in the future, _Rephaim acknowledged to himself. And whatabout Alena? _His _Alena. What will shebe?

_Could she really hate me? Could she utterly reject me? _He sifted through her feelings as hewatched her take Damien's hand and help him to hisfeet, and then lead him, the dog, cat, and Dragonaway toward the dormitories. He certainly felt heranger and her sorrow, and he understood thosefeelings. But hatred? Did she really hate him? Hedidn't know for sure, but Rephaim believed, deep inhis heart, that he deserved her hatred. No, he hadn'tkilled Jack, but he was allied with the forces thathad.

_I am my father's son. It's all I know how to be. It is my only choice._

After Alena was gone Rephaim pulled himself up to the top of the wall. He took a running start and leaped into the sky. Beating against the night with his massive wings, he circled around the watchful campus and headed back to the roof of the Mayo building.

_I deserve her hatred … I deserve her hatred … I deserve her hatred …_

The litany pounded through his mind in time with his wing strokes. His own despair and grief joined with the echo of Alena's sadness and anger.

The dampness of the cool night sky mixed with his tears as Rephaim's face was bathed in moonlight and loss.


	41. Stevie Rae 41

"Oh, for shit's sake! Are you telling me no one has called Zoey?" Aphrodite said.

Stevie Rae took Aphrodite by the elbow and, with a grip that was maybe firmer than technically necessary, guided her to the door in Damien's dorm room.

At the doorway she paused and both girls looked back at the bed, where Damien was curled up with Duchess and his cat, Cameron. Boy, dog, and cat had finally, just minutes before, fallen into a sleep induced by grief and exhaustion.

Silently, Stevie Rae pointed her finger from Aphrodite to the hallway. Aphrodite sneered. Stevie Rae crossed her arms and planted herself.

"_Outside," _she mouthed, _"now." _Then she followed her out of the room and closed the door softly behind them. "And keep your dang voice down out here, too," Stevie Rae whispered fiercely.

"Fine. I'll keep it down. Jack is dead and no one has called Z?" she repeated her question, much less loudly.

"No. I haven't exactly had time. Damien has been hysterical. Duchess has been hysterical. The school's in a dang uproar. I'm the only effing High Priestess who isn't, supposedly, locked away in her room praying or _whatever, _so I've been busy handling the shit storm out here and the fact that a really nice boy just died."

"Yeah, I understand that and I'm sad, too, and all, but Zoey needs to get here and get here now. If you were too busy to do it, then you should have let one of the professors call her. The sooner she knows the sooner she'll be on her way here." Darius hurried up to them and took Aphrodite's hand.

"It was Neferet, right? That bitch killed Jack," Aphrodite asked him.

"Not possible," Darius and Stevie Rae said together. Stevie Rae flashed Aphrodite an annoyed _I_ _told you so _look as Darius went on to explain.

"Neferet was, indeed, in the school Council Meeting when Jack fell from the ladder. Not only did Damien see Jack fall, but another witness corroborates the time. Drew Partain was crossing the grounds when he heard the music Jack was singing to. He said he only heard part of the song because the bell clock on Nyx's Temple began chiming midnight, or at least that was why he thought he didn't hear any more of Jack's voice."

"But really that's when Jack died," Stevie Rae said, her voice gone hard and flat because that was the only way she could keep from sounding as shaky as she felt.

"Yes, the timing is right," Darius said.

"And you're sure Neferet was in the meeting then?" Aphrodite said.

"I heard the clock gonging while she was talking," Stevie Rae said.

"I still don't believe for an instant she's not behind his death," Aphrodite said.

"I'm not disagreein' with you, Aphrodite. Neferet is slicker than hen crap on a tin roof, but facts are facts. She was in front of all of us when Jack fell off that ladder."

"Okay, seriously, eew with your bumpkin analogies. And how about the whole sword thing?

How the hell could it have 'accidentally' "—she air quoted—"almost sliced his head off?"

"Swords should be positioned hilt down, point up. Dragon explained that to Jack. As the boy fell on the blade, the hilt was driven into the ground, impaling him. Technically, it could have been an accident."

Aphrodite wiped a shaking hand across her face.

"That's horrible. Really horrible. But it was no damn accident."

"I don't think any of us believe Neferet is innocent of the boy's death, but what we believe and what we can prove are two different things. The High Council has already ruled once in Neferet's favor and, basically, against us. If we go to them with more supposition and no proof of her wrongdoings, we will only discredit ourselves more," Darius said.

"I get that, but it pisses me off," Aphrodite said.

"It pisses us all off," Stevie Rae said. "Bad. Real bad."

Picking up on the unusually hard edge in Stevie Rae's voice, Aphrodite lifted an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, and let's use some of that _pissed off _to kick that cow the hell outta here once and for all."

"What's your idea?" Alena said.

"First, get Zoey's vacationing butt back here. Neferet hates Z. She'll come against her—she

always does. Only this time we'll all be watching and waiting and we'll get proof not even the Neferetloving High Council will be able to ignore." Without waiting for a response from either of them, Aphrodite pulled her iPhone from her metallic Coach clutch, punched in her code, and said, "Call Zoey."

"I was gonna do that," Stevie Rae said. Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You're too. Damn. Late. Plus, you're too damn nice. What Z needs is a big dose of get-your-shit-together-anddo- the-right-thing. I'm the girl to feed it to her." She paused, listened, and rolled her eyes again. "It's her revolting Disney Channel–sounding _Hey guys!_ _Leave me a message and have an awesome day_ voice mail," Aphrodite quoted in an uber-bubbly voice. She drew a breath, waiting for the beep.

And Stevie Rae grabbed the phone from her hand, speaking quickly into it. "Z, it's me, not Aphrodite. I need you to call me the second you get this. It's important." She hit the _end _button to hang up and squared off against Aphrodite. "Okay, let's get somethin' real straight. Just because I try to be a decent human being, it does not mean I'm _too _nice. It's bad enough what happened to Jack. Learnin' 'bout it in a message is super, super bad. Plus, I don't think it's a good idea to freak Zoey out like that, 'specially so soon after her soul being shattered."

Aphrodite snatched the iPhone from Stevie Rae.

"Look. We do not have time to tiptoe around Zoey's feelings. She needs to put on her big-girl High Priestess panties and deal."

"Yes we do!" Stevie Rae and Aphrodite began arguing until Alena could no longer take it.. she covered her ears trying to block them out but the pounding of blood coursed through her and made her hot, too hot and she couldn't bear it. She was so confused, hurt, angry and sad and seeing Rephaim made it worse.

For the first time in her life, she needed to let all of these emotions out and hearing them argue was making it worse.

THEY. NEED. TO. STOP!

"No, you look!" Alena stepped forward and into Aphrodite's personal space, making Darius automatically move closer to her. "Zoey doesn't need to put on High Priestess panties! She is one!" Her voice was getting higher and angrier and it shocked everyone because she usually never raised her voice. But she's lost someone she loves. That's something you could never get unless it happens to you. Just because we're watching out for her feelings right now does not mean we are babying her! We're her friends! Something you can't seem to understand! You're too busy being bitchy and acting like a princess and fighting with my High Priestess you haven't stopped to even think if you were acting like friend to any one of us!." She glanced at Darius. "And you don't need to protect Aphrodite from me! I'm not going to kill her!" _yet, _she added in her thoughts

Darius caught and held her gaze. "For a moment your eyes flashed red."

Alena made sure her expression didn't change.

"So what! You'd do the same fucking damn thing if you've been through what I've been, what any red fledglings been through!"

"I imagine I would, but my eyes would not glow red," Darius said.

"Die and thenn un-die and then we'll see if your eyes wont glow red!" Alena yelled.

She turned to Aphrodite. "I'm leaving!"

"Whatever. Goodbye."

"Alena wait!" Stevie Rae yelled as she went after her.

Alena hurried down the hallway. _I haven't done anything wrong. So_ _what if my eyes glow red when I'm pissed? It doesn't_ _have anything to do with the fact that I've Imprinted_ _with Rephaim. I left him. Tonight I ignored him._ _Yeah, I have to find him and ask what the hell he_ _knows about what happened to Jack, but not_ _because I want to. Because I have to. _She told that big lie silently to herself, and was so distracted by her thoughts that she almost ran smack into Erik.

"Hey, uh, Alena/ Is Damien okay?"

"Well, what do you think, Erik?"

"ALENA!" Stevie Rae yelled angrily at her hostile behavior. Alena only flinched slightly at her High Priestess's tone.

"You know, you don't have to be like that. I really am worried about him, and I cared about Jack, too."

She took a good look at Erik. He did look like crap, which was totally unusual for pretty-boy Erik. And he'd obviously been crying. Then she remembered that he'd been Jack's roommate, and also had been real sweet about standing up for Jack when that asshole Thor tried to pick on him for being gay. "Sorry," she said, touching Erik's arm. "I'm just upset." She took a breath and smiled sadly.

But before she could talk, Stevie Rae stepped in.

"Damien's sleepin' right now, but he's not okay. He'll be needin' friends like you when he wakes up. Thanks for askin' and thanks for bein' here for him."

Erik nodded and squeezed Alena's hand briefly.

"Thanks. I know you don't like me much, what with the stuff that went down between Zoey and me, but I really am Damien's friend. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help." Erik paused, glancing up and down the hallway, as if to be sure they were alone, and then he took a step closer to Stevie Rae and lowered his voice. "Neferet had something to do with this, didn't she?"

Stevie Rae's eyes widened in surprise. "What makes you say that?"

"I know she's not what she pretends to be. I've seen her be her real self, and it's not pretty."

"Yeah, well, you're right. Neferet's real self isn't pretty. But just like me you saw that she was right in front of us when Jack died."

"Still, you think she's behind this." It wasn't a question, but Stevie Rae nodded a silent _yes _answer.

"I knew it. This House of Night sucks. I was right to say yes to the L.A. House of Night."

Stevie Rae shook her head. "So that's it? That's what you do when you know somethin' evil is

happening? You run away."

"What can one vampyre do against Neferet? The High Council reinstated her; they're on her side."

"_One _vampyre can't do much. A whole bunch of us joining together can."

"A few kids and a vamp here and there? Against a powerful High Priestess and the High Council?

That's insanity."

"No, what's insanity is steppin' aside and lettin' the bad guys win."

"Hey, I have a life waiting for me—a good one, with a kick-ass acting career, fame, fortune, all that

stuff. How can you blame me for not wanting to get mixed up in the Neferet mess?"

"You know what, Erik? All I'm gonna say to you is this: evil wins when good folks do nothing," Stevie Rae said.

"Well, I'm technically doing something. I'm leaving. Hey, did you ever think about this—what if all the good folks leave and evil gets bored playing all by itself and goes home, too?"

"I used to think you were the coolest guy I'd ever met," she said sadly.

Erik's blue eyes glinted with humor and he beamed his one-hundred-watt smile at her. "And now you _know _I am?"

Alena knew they were going to fight again and couldn't take it. She didn't so much as glance back at them as she hurried out to the parking lot and to her new car.

"Hey, Alena, you and me gotta—" Not pausing in her rush to the car, Alena held up a hand and cut Kramisha off. "Not now. I don't have time."

"I'm just sayin' that—"

"No!" Alena shouted her frustration at Kramisha, who stopped and stared at her.

"Whatever you have to say, it can wait. I hate being mean to you, but I have things I have to do and exactly two hours and five minutes until the sun comes up." Then she left Kramisha standing in her dust as she jogged the final few feet to the car, started it, put it into gear, and practically peeled out of the student parking lot.

It took her exactly seven minutes to get to the Gilcrease grounds. She didn't drive the car up there.

The ice storm had been cleaned up and the electric gate was working again, so everything was shut up tightly.

Alena pulled the prius off the side of the road behind a big tree. She went directly to the ramshackle mansion.

The door was no problem. No one had bothered to relock it yet. Actually, as she made her way through the old house and up to the rooftop, she detected very little change from the last time she'd been there.

"Rephaim?" she called his name. Her voice sounded eerie and too loud in the cold, empty night. The door to the closet where he'd made his nest was open, but he wasn't crouched within.

She went out onto the rooftop balcony. That, too, was empty. The entire place was deserted. But she'd known he wasn't here since she'd stepped onto the museum grounds.

Had Rephaim been here she would have felt him, just like she'd felt him earlier when he'd been at the House of Night, watching her.

Their Imprint connected them—as long as it was there, unbroken, it would tie them together.

"Rephaim, where are you now?" she asked the silent sky. And then Alena's thoughts slowed and rearranged themselves, and she had the answer; she'd had it all along. All she'd had to do was to get her pride and her hurt and her anger out of the way and the answer was there, waiting.

_Their_ _Imprint connected them—as long as it was there, unbroken, it would tie them together._

She didn'thave to find him. Rephaim would find her.

Alena sat down in the middle of the roof andfaced north. She drew a long, deep breath and let itout.

Drawing the strength of her force fieldwith her breath, Alena said, "Find Rephaim.Tell him to come to me. Tell him I need him." Then she released her power with her exhalation.

Had her eyes been open, Alena would have seen the blue glow that hovered around her. She would have also seen that as it rushed off into the night to do her bidding, it was shadowed by a scarlet glow.


	42. Rephaim 42

He'd been circling the Mayo building, dreading landing and facing Kalona and Neferet, when he felt Alena's call.

He knew it was her instantly. He recognized the feel of the force field as the power lifted

from the ground below and wrapped itself around the air currents to find him.

_She calls you …_

It was all the prompting Rephaim needed. No matter how angry she was at him. No matter how much she hated him—she was calling him. And if she called, he would answer. In his heart he knew, no matter what, he would always try to answer.

He remembered Alena's last words to him.

… _When you decide your heart matters as much to you as it does to me, come find me again. Just follow your heart …_

Rephaim shut off the part of his mind that told him he couldn't be with her—couldn't care about her. They'd been apart more than a week. He'd felt every day of that week as if it had been an eon in itself.

How had he ever thought he could stay completely away from her? His very blood cried to be with her. Even facing her anger was better than nothing. And he needed to see her. Needed to find a way to warn her about Neferet. _And about Father, too._

"No!" he shouted into the wind. He couldn't betray his father. _But I can't betray Alena, either, _he thought frantically. _I'll find a balance. I'll find a way. I_ _must. _Not sure exactly what he was going to do, Rephaim stilled his seething thoughts and concentrated on following the ribbon of glowing green back to Alena as if it were his lifeline.


	43. Alena 43

She was waiting for him with such concentrated intensity that Alena had no trouble sensing when Rephaim drew near the Gilcrease. When he dropped gracefully from the sky she was standing, looking up, watching for him.

She'd meant to be totally cool. He was the enemy. She was supposed to remember that. But the instant he landed their eyes locked and, breathlessly, he said, "I heard your call. I came."

That was all it took. Just the sound of his wonderful, familiar voice. Alena hurled herself into his arms and buried her face in the feathers at his shoulder. "I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you, too," he said, holding her tightly to him.

They stood there like that, trembling in each other's arms, for what seemed to her a very long time. Alena drank in the scent of him—that amazing mixture of immortal and mortal blood that beat through his body—that linked them in Imprint and, therefore, also beat throughout her own body.

And then, quite suddenly, like it had occurred to each of them at once that they couldn't do what they were doing, Alena and Rephaim broke the embrace and took a step away from each other.

"Have you been go lately?" she asked him.

He nodded. "I have. And you? You're safe? You weren't hurt when Jack was killed today?"

"How did you know Jack was killed?" Her voice was sharp.

"I felt your sadness. I came to the House of Night to be sure you were okay. That's when I saw you with your friends. I-I heard the boy crying for Jack." He hesitated over the words, trying to choose them carefully, honestly. "That and your sadness told me he was dead."

"Do you know anything about his death?"

"Maybe. What kind of boy was Jack?"

"Jack was good and sweet, and might have been the best of all of us. What do you know, Rephaim?"

"I know why he died."

"Tell me."

"Neferet owed Darkness a life debt in payment for entrapping my father's immortal soul. The debt had to be paid by the sacrifice of someone who was an innocent, incorruptible by Darkness."

"That was Jack; she killed him! She was talking to the school's High Council, right in front of me and everyone else, when Jack's accident happened."

"The Tsi Sgili fed him to Darkness. She need not have been present. She needed only to have marked him as her sacrifice and then let loose the threads of Darkness to follow through with the actual killing. She didn't have to witness the death."

"How do I prove she was responsible?"

"You cannot. The deed is over. Her debt is paid."

"Damn it! Neferet keeps getting away with all of this awful crap. I don't understand why. It's not right, Rephaim. It's just not right." Alena blinked hard, forcing back tears of frustration.

For a moment, Rephaim touched her shoulder and she allowed herself to lean into his hand, to take comfort in the contact with him. Then he pulled back from her and said, "All that anger. All that frustration and sadness. I felt it from you earlier tonight, too, and I thought—" He hesitated, obviously trying to decide whether to keep speaking.

"What?" she asked softly. "You thought what?"

He met her eyes again. "I thought it was me you hated. Me you were so angry at. I heard you, too. You told the Sword Master tainted, unredeemable Darkness lurked outside. You were looking straight at me when you said it."

Alena nodded. "Yeah, I saw you, and I knew if I didn't say something to get them to leave, they were going see you, too."

"Then you were not talking about me?"

It was Alena's turn to hesitate. She sighed. "I was angry and confused and scared and upset. I wasn't thinking. I just reacted." She paused again and then added, "I didn't mean anything against you, but Rephaim, I do need to know what's going on with Kalona and Neferet."

Rephaim turned and walked slowly to the edge of the rooftop. She followed him and stood beside him as they stared out at the quiet night.

"It's almost dawn," Rephaim said. Alena shrugged. "I got about half an hour before the sun rises. It only takes ten minutes to get back to the school."

"You should leave now and not take any chances. The sun can cause you too much damage, even with my blood inside you."

"I know." Alena sighed. "So, are you going to tell me or not?"

He turned to look at her again. "What would you think of me if you knew I betrayed my father?"

"He's not a good guy, Rephaim. He's not worth your protection."

"But he _is _my father," Rephaim said.

Alena thought Rephaim sounded exhausted.

She wanted to take his hand, to tell him it'd be okay. But she couldn't. How could it be okay with him on one side and her on the other? "I can't fight against that," she finally said. "You're going have to figure out what Kalona is and isn't yourself. But you need to understand that Stevie Rae is going to keep her people safe, and I know Kalona's is right beside Neferet, no matter what she says."

"My father is bound to her!" Rephaim blurted.

"What do you mean?"

"He didn't kill Zoey, so he didn't fulfill his oath to Neferet, and now the Tsi Sgili holds dominion over his immortal soul."

"That's just great! He's like a loaded gun Neferet is holding."

Rephaim shook his head. "He should be, but my father does not serve others well. He chafes uneasily under her command. I believe the analogy would be more accurate if you said that Father is like a _misfiring _loaded gun Neferet is holding."

"What do you mean?" She tried to keep the excitement from her voice, but by the way his eyes closed off from her, Alena knew she'd been unsuccessful.

"I will not betray him."

"Okay, fine. Does that mean you can't help me?"

Rephaim stared at her silently so long she thought he wasn't going to answer, and she was trying to formulate another question in her head when he finally said, "I want to help you, and I will as long as it doesn't mean betraying my father."

"That's a lot like the first time and it didn't end up bad did it?" she asked, smiling up at him.

"No, not so bad."

"And, aren't you against Neferet?"

"I am," he said firmly.

"And your daddy?"

"He wants to be rid of her control."

"Well, that's practically the same thing. Technically, you're on our side."

"I can't be on your side, Alena. You have to remember that."

"So you'd be willing to fight against me?" She met his gaze squarely.

"I could not hurt you."

"But—"

"No," he interrupted. "Not being able to hurt you is different than fighting for you."

"You'd fight for me. You already have."

Rephaim grabbed her hand, squeezing it as if through touch he could make her understand him.

"I've never fought my father for you."

"Rephaim, do you remember that boy we saw in the fountain?" She changed his grip on her hand and threaded her fingers with his.

He didn't speak. He only nodded.

"You know he's inside you, right?"

Again, Rephaim nodded, this time slowly and hesitantly.

"That boy inside you is your momma's son. Not Kalona's. Don't forget about her. Don't forget about that boy and what he'd be willing to fight for. Okay?"

Rephaim's hand caught hers. "Zoey needs to return to Tulsa. That's one way all of us can fight Neferet. The Tsi Sgili hates Zoey, and her presence here will be a distraction."

"A distraction from what?"

"My father wishes to discover a way to sever the bonds that tie him to Neferet. To do so, he'll need her to be distracted. Her obsession with Zoey is an excellent distraction, as is her desire to use the rogue red fledglings in her war with humans." Alena's brows went up.

"There's no war going on between vampyres and humans."

"If Neferet's will is done, there will be."

"Okay, well, we have to make sure that doesn't happen. Looks like Zoey really does need to get home."

"They want to use you, too," Rephaim blurted.

"Huh? Who's they? Me? For what?"

Rephaim looked away from her and spoke very quickly. "Neferet and Father. They don't believe you've firmly chosen the way of the Goddess. They think you could be persuaded to move to the side of Darkness alongside with your High Priestess, Stevie Rae."

"Rephaim, I chose Nyx and Light when I regained my humanity. I'm never going to change that choice."

"I have never doubted that, Alena, but they do not know you as I do."

"And Neferet and Kalona can never find out about us, either, can they?"

"It would be very bad if they did."

"Very bad for you or for me?"

"For both of us."

Alena sighed. "Okay, so I'll be careful." She touched his arm. "You be careful, too."

He nodded. "You should start back. Call your High Priestess as you drive. Dawn is too close."

"I know," she said, but neither of them moved.

"And I must get back," he said, as if trying to convince himself.

"Wait, you aren't staying here anymore?"

"No. The ice storm has passed and there are too many humans about the grounds now."

"Well, where are you?"

"Alena, I cannot tell you that!"

"Because you're with your daddy, right?" When he didn't speak she continued. "Hey, it's not like I didn't already know it was total bull when Neferet announced the whole hundred-lashes-and-banish- Kalona-for-a-century punishment."

"She did have him lashed. The threads of Darkness cut him one hundred times."

Alena shivered, remembered how awful just the touch of one of those threads had been. "Well, I wouldn't wish that on anyone." She met Rephaim's eyes. "But the part about him being banished from Neferet's side for a century is a lie, right?"

Rephaim gave a quick, almost imperceptible nod.

"And you won't tell me where you're staying because that's where your daddy's staying, too?"

He gave another slight nod.

She sighed again. "So if I need to see you again, I have to check out some scary old building somewhere or…"

"No! You stay safe and in public places. Alena, if you need me come here and call me as you did tonight. Promise me that you won't go out trying to find me," he said, giving her arm a little shake.

"Okay, I promise. But Rephaim, I know he's your daddy and all, but he's also into some bad stuff. I just don't want him to take you down with him. So be careful, please?"

"I will be careful," he said. "Alena, tonight I saw the rogue red fledglings. They are making their nest at Will Rogers High School. Montoya has joined them."

"Please don't tell Kalona and Neferet."

"Why, so you can show them kindness and humanity and they can have another opportunity to kill you?" he shouted at her.

"No! I wouldn't run off to talk to them all alone. I wouldn't try to reason with them at all. I already proved that won't work. Whatever I'd do would be with Lenobia and Dragon and my High Priestess, at the very least. I just don't want them joining Neferet, so I don't want her to know about them."

"It is too late. It was Neferet who put me on their trail tonight. Alena, I'm asking you to stay away from the rogue reds. They mean nothing but doom for you."

"I'll be careful. But Stevie Rae's a High Priestess and the red fledglings are her responsibility."

"The ones who have chosen Darkness are not her responsibility. And Montoya is no longer a fledgling. He is not your responsibility."

Alena's smile was crooked. "Are you jealous of Montoya?"

"Do not be ridiculous. I simply don't want to see you hurt again. Stop changing the subject."

"Hey, Montoya isn't my boyfriend anymore," she said.

"I know that."

"You sure?"

"Yes. Of course." He shook himself and his wings unfurled. Alena's breath caught as she watched him. "Call your High Priestess as you drive back to the safety of the school. I will see you again soon."

"Stay safe."

He turned to her and cupped her face in his hand.

Alena closed her eyes and stood there, taking comfort and strength from his touch. Too soon it was gone. Too soon he was gone.

She opened her eyes to watch his majestic wings beat against the night air and lift him higher, higher, until he disappeared into the barely discernable lightening of the eastern sky.

Rephaim had been right. It was too close to dawn for comfort. Alena hit dial as she hurried through the deserted mansion and back to the car.


	44. Stevie Rae 44

"She's really coming home?" Damien's voice was so soft and shaky that Stevie Rae had to lean down over the bed to hear him.

His eyes were glassy and more than a little vacant, and she couldn't tell if that was because the drug/blood cocktail the vamps in the infirmary had come up with was actually working, or whether he was still in shock.

"Are you kiddin'? Z got on the first plane outta there. She'll be home in, like, three hours. If you want, you can come to the airport with me to pick her and Stark up." Stevie Rae was sitting on the edge of Damien's bed, so it was easy for her to give Duchess's head a rub—since the dog was curled around Damien.

When he didn't make any response except to stare blankly at the wall in front of him, she gave Duchess another pat. In return the Lab thumped her tail weakly once, twice. "You're a dang good dog and that's all there is to it," Stevie Rae told the blond Lab.

Duchess opened her eyes and gave Stevie Rae a soulful look, but her tail didn't thump again and she didn't make her usual happy huffing dog noise. Stevie Rae frowned. Did she look thin?

"Damien, honey, has Duch had anything to eat recently?"

He blinked at her, looked confused, looked at the dog curled around him, and then his eyes actually began to clear, but before he could say anything Neferet's voice came from behind Stevie Rae, though she had no way heard the vamp enter the room.

"Stevie Rae, Damien is in a very fragile emotional state right now. He should not have to be concerned about such trivialities as feeding a dog or acting like a common butler and going to the airport to collect a fledgling."

Neferet swept past her. Full of motherly concern, she bent over Damien. Stevie Rae automatically stood up and backed several feel away. She could have sworn that something in the shadows that lapped around the hem of Neferet's long, silky dress had begun to slither toward her.

In a similar reaction, Duchess moved off Damien's lap and curled up morosely at the end of his bed, joining his still sleeping cat, all the while keeping her unblinking gaze trained on Damien.

"Since when is picking a friend up from the airport the butler's job? And believe me—I know what's what with a butler's job."

Stevie Rae glanced over at the doorway where Aphrodite seemed to have just materialized.

_Well, slap me and call me a baby—am I so out of it I can't hear nothing anymore? _Stevie Raethought.

"Aphrodite, I have something to say to you that applies to everyone in this room," Neferet said, sounding regal and super-in-charge.

Aphrodite put a hand on her slim hip, and said, "Yeah? What?"

"I have decided that Jack's funeral should be in the manner of a fully Changed vampyre. His funeral pyre will be lit tonight, as soon as Zoey arrives at the House of Night."

"You're waitin' for Zoey? Why?" Stevie Rae asked.

"Because she was Jack's good friend, of course. But more important, because of the confusion that reigned here when I was under Kalona's influence, Zoey served as Jack's High Priestess. That unfortunate time is, thankfully, behind us, but it is only right that Zoey light Jack's pyre."

Stevie Rae thought how terrible it was that Neferet's beautiful emerald eyes could look so perfectly guileless, even when she was weaving a web of deceit and lies

She heard Aphrodite draw in a breath, like she was getting ready to launch into a major ass-chewing, but at that moment Damien drew everyone's attention to him when he put his head in his hands and began to sob, saying brokenly, "I-I just c-can't understand how he can be gone."

Stevie Rae pushed around Neferet and pulled Damien into her arms. She was happy to see

Aphrodite stride over to the other side of the bed and rest her hand on Damien's heaving shoulder.

Both girls gave Neferet narrow-eyed looks of distrust and dislike.

Neferet's face remained sad but impassive, like she knew Damien's grief but she let it wash around her and not into her. "Damien, I'll leave you to the comfort of your friends. Zoey's plane lands at Tulsa International at 9:58 tonight. I've set the funeral pyre for midnight exactly, as that is an auspicious time. I shall see all of you then." Neferet left the room, closing the door behind her with an almost inaudible click.

"Fucking lying bitch," Aphrodite said under her breath. "Why is she playing nice?" "She's seriously up to somethin'," Stevie Rae said while Damien cried into her shoulder.

"I can't do this." Damien suddenly pulled back and away from both of them. He shook his head back and forth, back and forth. The heaving sobs had stopped, but tears continued to leak down his cheeks. Duchess crawled up to him and lay across his lap, with her nose pointed up near his cheek.

Cammy curled up tightly against his side. Damien wrapped one arm around the big blond dog, and another around his cat. "I can't say goodbye to Jack and deal with Neferet's drama." He looked from Stevie Rae to Aphrodite. "I understand why Zoey's soul shattered."

"No no no no." Aphrodite bent over and put her finger in Damien's face. "I am _not _dealing with that stress again. Jack being dead is bad. Really bad. But you gotta keep yourself together."

"For us," Stevie Rae added in a much softer tone, giving Aphrodite a _be nice! _look. "You gotta keep yourself together for your friends. We almost lost Zoey. We lost Jack and Heath. We can't lose you, too."

"I can't fight her anymore," Damien said. "I don't have any heart left."

"It's still there," Stevie Rae said softly. "It's just broken."

"It'll fix," Aphrodite added, not unkindly.

Damien's eyes were bright with tears when he looked at her. "How do you know? Your heart's never been broken." He turned his gaze to Stevie Rae.

"Neither has yours." As Damien continued to speak, the tears fell faster and faster down his cheeks.

"Don't let your hearts be broken. It hurts too much."

"Zoey's going to make it, and she lost her Heath," Aphrodite said. "If she can do it, you can do it, too, Damien."

"And she's really coming home?" Damien repeated the question he'd started with.

"Yes," Aphrodite and Stevie Rae said together.

"Okay. Good. Yeah. It'll be better when Zoey's here," Damien said, still hugging Duchess, with Cameron pressed close to his side.

"Hey, Duchess and Cammy look like they could use some dinner," Aphrodite said. Stevie Rae was surprised to see her reach out and, tentatively, pat the big dog's head. "I don't see any dog food in here, and all Cammy has is that wretched dry stuff.

Quite frankly Maleficent won't even look at anything that doesn't appear to be fresh catch. How about I have Darius help me bring some food up for them? Unless you'd rather be alone. If so, I can take Cammy and Duchess with me and feed them for you."

Damien's eyes got all big and round. "No! Don't take them. I want them to stay here with me."

"Okay, okay, no problem. Darius can get Duchess's dog food," Stevie Rae spoke up, wondering what the heck Aphrodite was thinking. No way did Damien need to be without those two animals.

"Duch's food and stuff is in Jack's room," Damien said, ending on a little sob.

"Would you like us to bring all her stuff in here for you?" Stevie Rae asked, taking Damien's hand.

"Yes," he whispered. Then his body jerked and his face blanched even whiter than it had been. "And don't let them throw away Jack's stuff! I have to see it! I have to go through it!"

"I'm already ahead of you on that. No way was I letting those vamps get their claws into Jack's cool collections. I delegated the responsibility of boxing up his stuff and sneaking it out to the Twins," Aprodite said, looking smug. Damien, clearly forgetting for just an instant that his world was filled with tragedy, almost smiled.

"_You _got the Twins to do something?"

"Damn right," Aphrodite said.

"What'd it cost you?" Stevie Rae asked.

Aphrodite scowled. "Two shirts from Hale Bob's new collection."

"But I didn't think his spring stuff was out yet," Damien said.

"_A: _Hello—_gay _that you know that, and _b: _collections are always out early if you're filthy richand your mom 'knows' someone," she said, airquotingthe word.

"Who's Hale Bob?" Stevie Rae asked.

"Oh, for shit's sake," Aphrodite said. "Just come with me. You can help me carry the dog accoutrements."

"And by that you mean I'm carryin' them, right?"

"Right." Aphrodite bent and, like she did it every day, kissed Damien on the top of his head. "I'll be right back with the dog and cat crap. Oh, want me to bring Maleficent? She—"

"No!" Damien and Stevie Rae said together with twin tones of horror.

Aphrodite lifted her chin indignantly. "It's so typical that no one understands that magnificent creature except me."

"See you soon," Stevie Rae told Damien, and kissed him on the cheek.

Out in the hall Stevie Rae frowned at Aphrodite.

"Seriously, even you couldn't have thought taking those animals away from him would be a good idea."

Aphrodite rolled her eyes and flipped her hair back. "Of course not, moron. I knew it would horrify him and start to snap him out of his non-thinkingsuper- depressed state, which it did. Darius and I will bring animal food back for the dog and cat zoo up there and, just coincidentally, we'll stop by the dining hall and get some to-go stuff for our dinner, bring enough for him, and Damien is too much of a lady to kick us out or make us eat by ourselves. _Et voilà!_ Damien has something in his stomach before he has to go through the whole funeral pyre horribleness."

"Neferet is up to something really, _really _bad," Stevie Rae said.

"Count on it," Aphrodite said.

"Well, at least it's gonna happen in front of everybody, so she can't, like, kill her."

Aphrodite raised her brow disdainfully at Stevie Rae. "In front of everybody Neferet broke loose

Kalona, killed Shekinah, and tried to order Stark, who cannot miss what the hell he shoots at, to fire an arrow at you once and at Z another time. Seriously, bumpkin, get a clue."

"Well, there were extenuatin' circumstances with me, and Neferet didn't order Stark to shoot Z in front of the whole school, just in front of us and a bunch of nuns. Of course now she's saying Kalona made her do it for both things. Plus, it's still our word against hers. No one listens to teenagers, or nuns, for that matter."

"Do you doubt for one single instant that Neferet can make whatever she does tonight look like she's as innocent as an infant?" Aphrodite paused to grimace. "Goddess, I can't stand babies—ugh, all that puking and eating and pooping and stuff. Plus, they stretch out your—"

"Really?" Stevie Rae interrupted her tirade. "I'm not talkin' 'bout girl parts and babies with you."

"I was just using an analogy, stupid. Basically, we're in for some shit in just a few hours. So get Z ready while I try to prop up Damien so he won't dissolve into a puddle of tears and snot and angst tonight."

"You know, you can't pretend to be all 'I don't care about Damien' with me after I saw you _kiss him on_ _the top of his head._"

"Which I will deny for the rest of my very long and attractive life," Aphrodite said.

"Aphrodite, is you ever gonna get un-obsessed with your own self?"

Stevie Rae and Aphrodite came to a sudden stop when Kramisha stood up from the shadows at the edge of the porch of the girl's dorm.

"I'm gonna have to get my eyes checked. I can't see crap until it's right in front of me," Stevie Rae said.

"It's not you," Aphrodite said in a deadpan voice.

"It's Kramisha. She's black. Shadows are black— hence the reason we didn't see her."

Kramisha stood up and looked down her nose at Aphrodite. "No, you did not just—"

"Oh, please, save it." Aphrodite breezed past her to the door of the dorm. "Prejudice, oppression, the Man, blah, blah, yawn, blah. I'm the biggest minority here, so don't even try to pull that on me."

Kramisha blinked twice and looked as stunned as Stevie Rae felt.

"Uh, Aphrodite," Stevie Rae said. "You look like Barbie. How in the heck can you be a minority?" Aphrodite pointed to her forehead, which was completely blank and unMarked. "_Human _in a school full of fledglings and vamps equals mi-nor-ity."

She opened the door and twitched into the building.

"That girl ain't no human," Kramisha said. "I'd say she more like a mad dog, but I don't want to offend no dogs."

Stevie Rae let out a long-suffering sigh. "I know. You're right. She's really not nice, even when she's bein' nice. For her. If that makes any sense."

"It don't, but you Alena aint been makin' a whole lot of sense in general lately, Stevie Rae," Kramisha said.

"You know what? I do not need this right now _and _I

do not know what you mean _and _at this second I do

not care. She's going through a lot of yesterday and I'm leaving her be. I'll see you later, Kramisha." Stevie Rae started to walk by her, but Kramisha stepped firmly in her way. She smoothed back the outside flip edge of her yellow bob wig and said, "You got no call to have that hateful tone of voice with me."

"My tone's not hateful. My tone's annoyed and tired."

"Nope. It be hateful and you know it. You shouldn't lie much. You ain't very good at it."

"Fine. I won't lie much." Stevie Rae cleared her throat, gave herself a little shake like a cat caught in a springtime shower, planted a big, fake grin on her face, and started again in a super bright tone of voice. "Hey there, girlfriend, nice to see ya, but I gotta be goin' now!"

Kramisha raised her brows. "Okay, first, don't say 'girlfriend.' You sound like that chick in that old movie, _Clueless. _The one the blonde and Stacey Dash reformed into somethin' popular. Not. Good. Second, you can't run off right now 'cause I got to give you—"

"Kramisha!" Shaking her head, Stevie Rae backed away from the purple sheet of paper

Kramisha had started to hand to her. "I am just one person! I cannot handle anythin' else right now other than the shit storm I'm already caught in—excuse my French. But you gotta keep your future-telling poems to yourself. At least till Z gets here, gets settled, and helps me be sure Damien isn't gonna hurl himself off the top of the closest high building."

Kramisha gave her a narrowed-eye look. "Too bad you ain't just one person."

"What in the Sam Hill do you mean? 'Course I'm one person. Jeeze Louise, I wish there was more than one of me. Then I could keep an eye on Damien, be sure Dragon doesn't go totally postal, pick up Zoey from the dang airport on time _and_ figure out what's goin' on with her and Alena, get some dang thing to eat, and start to deal with the fact that Neferet is up to something of massive cat-herding proportions tonight at Jack's funeral. Oh, and maybe one of the me's could take a long bubble bath and listen to my Kenny Chesney while I read the end of _A_ _Night to Remember._"

"_A Night to Remember_? You mean that _Titanic _story I read last year in Lit class?"

"Yeah. We'd just started it when I died and undied, so I never got to finish it. I kinda liked it." "Here. I'll help ya out. THE SHIP SINKS. THEY DIE. The end. Now can we please move on to somethin' more important?" She lifted the piece of purple paper again.

"Yes, hateful, I do know what happens, but that doesn't mean it's not a good story." Stevie Rae tucked an annoying blond curl behind her ear. "You say I don't tell good lies? Okay, here's the truth. My mama would say I got too dang much on my plate right now to get even one more forkful of chickenfried stress, so let's lay off the poem stuff for a while."

Totally surprising Stevie Rae, Kramisha took a big step into her personal space, and then grabbed her by the shoulders. Looking straight into her eyes, she said, "You ain't just one person. You a High Priestess. A _red _High Priestess. The only one they is. That means you gotta deal with stress. Lots of it. 'Specially right now when Neferet is creatin' all kinds of crazy messes."

"I know that, but—" Kramisha squeezed her shoulders hard, and cut in saying, "Jack is dead. They's no tellin' who's next. So, where is you goin'?"

"I'm supposed to be helping Aphrodite get stuff to feed Damien's cat and Duchess. Then I have to pick up Z from the airport and let her know that Neferet has decided to step aside and let her light Jack's funeral pyre. Tonight."

"Yeah, we all heard 'bout that. It don't seem right to me."

"Zoey lighting Jack's fire?"

"No, Neferet lettin' her." Kramisha scratched her head and her yellow wig moved from side to side.

"So, here's the thing: let Aphrodite take care of the Damien stuff right now. You need to go out there"— she paused then began—"and tell Alena to do that thing she always does when I need her to figure something out. Again."

"Kramisha, I don't have time to do that and I don't know where she is."

"I ain't done yet. You need to recharge your business before all hell breaks loose. See, I'm not real sure Zoey is gonna be up for what might be happenin' tonight."

Instead of brushing Kramisha and her bossy self aside, Stevie Rae hesitated and thought about what she was saying. "You could be right," she said slowly.

"She don't want to come back. You know that, right?" Kramisha said. Stevie Rae hitched her shoulders. "Well, would you? She's been through a lot."

"I don't think I would, that's why I'm sayin' this to you, 'cause I do understand. But Zoey ain't the only one of us who's been through a lot lately. Some of us is still goin' through a lot. We all have to learn to take care of our business and deal."

"Hey, she's comin' back—she _is _dealing," Stevie Rae said.

"I ain't just talkin' 'bout Zoey." Kramisha folded the purple piece of notebook paper in half and handed it to Stevie Rae, who took it reluctantly; when she sighed and started to unfold it, Kramisha shook her head. "You don't need to read it in front a' me."

Stevie Rae looked up at the Poet Laureate with a question mark on her face. "Look, right now I'm gonna talk to you like a Poet Laureate to her High Priestess, so you need to listen up. Take this poem and go find Alena. Tell her to go out to the trees. Tell her to read it there.. Whatever it is she have goin' on, she need to make a change. This is the third serious warnin' I've got 'bout her. Tell her to stop ignorin' the truth, Stevie Rae, 'cause what she do don't just affect yourself. Are you hearin' me?"

Stevie Rae drew in a deep breath. "I'm hearing you."

"Good. Go on now." Kramisha started to walk into the dorm.

"Hey, would you explain to Aphrodite that I had somethin' to do, but I'll be back later?" Kramisha looked over her shoulder at Stevie Rae.

"Yeah, but you'll owe me dinner at Red Lobster."

"Yeah, okay. I like the Lobster," Stevie Rae said.

"I'm gonna order anything I want."

"Of course you will," Stevie Rae muttered, sighed again, and began to search for Alena.


	45. Alena 45

Alena wasn't entirely sure what the poem meant, but she was sure Kramisha and Stevie Rae were right—she needed to stop ignoring the truth and make a change. The hard part was, she wasn't sure she could find the truth anymore, let alone know how to change stuff. She looked down at the poem.

Her night vision was so good she didn't even have to move out from under the shadows beneath the old pin oaks that framed the Utica Street side of the campus and the side road that led to the entrance of the school.

"Haiku is always so confusing," she muttered as she reread the three-line poem again:

_You must tell your heart_

_The cloak of secrets smothers_

_Freedom: his to choose_

It was about Rephaim. And her. Again. Alena plopped her butt down at the base of the big tree and let her back rest against its rough bark.

_I'm supposed to tell my heart, but what do I tell it? And I know keeping this secret is smothering me, but there's no one I can tell about Rephaim. Freedom is his to choose? Hell yeah, it is, but his daddy has a hard grip on him that he can't see that._

Alena thought how ironic it was that an ancient immortal and his half-bird, half-immortal son had what was basically an old-school version of the same abusive daddy/son relationship a zillion other kids she knew had with their daddies.

Kalona had been treating him like a slave and making him believe messed-up stuff about himself for so long that Rephaim didn't even realize how wrong it was.

Then of course it was equally messed up that she was where she was with Rephaim—Imprinted and bound to him because of a debt she promised the black bull of Light.

"It's not because of the debt," Alena whispered to herself. She'd been drawn to him way before that. "I l-like him." She stumbled over the words, even though the night was silent and only the listening trees were present. "I wish I knew if that's because of our Imprint or if there really is something, some_one _inside him that I'm starting to like."

She sat there, staring up at the spiderweb of winter-bare boughs over her head. And then, because she was spilling her guts to the trees, she added, "I shouldn't ever see him again."

Just imagining Dragon finding out that she'd saved and Imprinted with the creature who had killed Anastasia made her feel like she wanted to puke.

"Maybe the freedom part of the poem means that if I stop seeing him, Rephaim will choose to leave.

Maybe our Imprint will fade away if we stay apart."

Just the thought of that made her want to puke, too. "Yeah right. Like that can ever happen. Ugh!I really wish someone would tell me what to do," she said morosely, resting her chin on her hands.

As if in answer to her, the night breeze brought her the sound of someone sobbing. Frowning, Alena stood up, cocked her head, and listened.

Yep, someone was definitely crying. She didn't really want to follow the sound. But the cries were so

heartbreaking, so deeply sad, that she couldn't just ignore it—that wouldn't be right. So Alena let the crying lead her up the little road that ended at the big, black iron gate that was the main entrance to the school.

At first she didn't understand what it was she was seeing.

She could tell the crying person was a woman, and she was outside the House of Night gate. As Alena got closer she could see that the woman was kneeling in front of the gate, just off

to the right side of it.

She'd leaned what looked like a big funeral wreath made of plastic pink carnations and red stuff against the stone pillar. In front of that she'd lit a light blue candle and, as she continued to cry, she was pulling a picture out of her purse.

It was when the woman brought the picture to her lips to kiss it that Alena's eyes found her face.

"Momma!"

She'd barely whispered the word, but her mom's head came up and her eyes instantly found Alena.

"Alena? Baby?"

At the sound of her momma's voice, the knot that had been building inside Alena's stomach suddenly dissolved, and she ran to the gate.

With no other thought except getting to her momma, Alena used the field so she can stand on it then jumped the stone wall, landing on the other side.

"Alena?" she repeated, this time in a questioning whisper.

Finding it impossible to speak, Alena just nodded, making the tears that had started to pool in her eyes slosh over and spill down her face.

"Oh, baby, I'm so glad I got to see you one more time." Her mom dabbed at her face with the pink handkerchief she was clutching in one hand, making an obvious effort to stop crying.

"Sweetheart, are you happy wherever you are?" Not pausing for an answer, she kept talking, staring at Alena's face as if she was trying to memorize it. "I miss you so much. I wanted to come before and

leave this wreath for you, and the candle and this real cute eighth-grade picture, but I couldn't get here because of the storm. Then when the roads was opened I couldn't make myself, 'cause visitin' here and leaving all this for you would make it final. You'd really be _dead._" She mouthed the word, not able to speak it.

"Oh, momma! I've missed you so much, too!" Alena hurled herself into her arms, buried her face in

her momma's blue trench coat, and breathing in the scent of home, sobbed her heart out.

"There, there, sweetheart. It's gonna be fine. You'll see. Everything'll be okay." She soothed and patted Alena's back and hugged her fiercely.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Alena was able to look up at her mom. Alvida "Vida"

Hawkins smiled through her tears and kissed her daughter, first on her forehead and then gently on her lips.

Then she reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out a second handkerchief, this one still neatly folded. "Good thing I brought more than one."

"Thanks, Momma. You always come prepared."

Alena grinned and wiped her face and blew her nose. "You don't have any of your chocolate chip

cookies with you by any chance?"

Her Momma 's brow furrowed. "Baby, how can you eat?"

"With my mouth like always."

"Baby," she said, looking increasingly confused. "I do not care that you are _communing through the_ _spirit world._" Momma Hawkins said the last part with a woo-woo tone to her voice and an attempt at mystical hand gestures. "I'm just real glad that I get to see my girl again, but I am gonna admit it'll take a sec for me to get used to the idea of you bein' a ghost, and all, 'specially one that cries real tears and eats. It just don't make good sense."

"Momma, I'm not a ghost."

"Are you some kinda apparition? Again, baby, it don't matter to me. I'll still love you. I'll come here and visit you lots and lots if this is what you want to haunt. I'm just askin' so I can know."

"Momma, I'm not dead. Not anymore."

"Baby, have you had a paranormal experience?"

"Momma, you have no idea."

"And you ain't dead? At all?" Momma Hakwins asked.

"No, and I really don't know why or do I understand. I did died, but then I came back, and now I have this,"

Alena pointed to the red tattoo Markings of waves and circles that framed her face. "Apparently,

I'm the second Red Vampyre in existence. Stevie Rae is the Red Vampyre High Priestess."

Momma Hawkins had stopped crying, but at Alena's explanation, tears filled her eyes and overflowed again. "Not dead…," she whispered between sobs. "Not dead…"

Alena stepped into her momma's arms again and squeezed her tight. "I'm so sorry I didn't come and tell you. I wanted to. I really, really did. I wasn't myself when I first was un-dead.

And then all hell broke loose at the school. I couldn't get away, and I couldn't just call you. I just didn't know what to do. I'm so sorry," she repeated, closing her eyes and holding onto her

momma with everything she had.

"No, no, it's fine. It's fine. All that matters is that you're here and you're okay." Her momma pried Alena off her so she could look her over while she wiped her eyes. "You are okay, aren't you, baby?"

"I'm fine, momma."

Momma Hawkins reached out and cupped Alena's chin, forcing her daughter to meet her gaze.

She shook her head and in her firm, familiar, mom voice said, "It's not nice to lie to your momma."

Alena didn't know what to say. She stared at her mom as the dam of secrets and lies and longing began to break apart inside her.

Momma Hawkins took her daughter's hands, one in each of hers, and looked into her eyes. "I'm here. I love you. I won't judge you. Tell me, baby," she said softly.

"I can't. It's bad," Alena said. "Real bad."

Her Momma 's voice was filled with love and warmth.

"Baby, there ain't nothin' as bad as you bein' dead."

That was what decided Alena—her momma's unconditional love. She took a deep breath, and when she let it out she blurted, "I've Imprinted with a monster, momma. A creature who's half human and half bird. He's done bad things. Really bad things. He's even killed people."

Momma Hawkins's expression didn't change, but her grip on Alena's hands tightened. "Is this creature here? In Tulsa?"

Alena nodded. "He's hiding. No one at the House of Night knows about him and me."

"Not even Stevie Rae or Zoey?"

"No, especially not Stevie Rae. She'd really freak. Anyone who knew would freak. I know people are going to find out. I cant keep this on forever. It's eating me alive. It has to happen, and I don't know what to do. It's so awful. Everyone'll hate me. No one will understand."

"Not _everyone _will hate you, baby. I don't hate you."

Alena sighed and then smiled. "But you're my mommy. It's your job to love me and not hate me."

"It's a friend's job to love you, too, if they're real friends." Momma Hawkins paused and then asked slowly, "Baby, does this creature have somethin' on you? I mean, I don't know much about vampyre ways, but everyone knows Imprinting with a vampyre is a serious thing. Did he somehow make you do it with him? If that's what happened we can go to the school. They'll have to understand and they must have some way to help you get rid of him."

"No, momma. I Imprinted with Rephaim because he saved my life."

"He brought you back from the dead?"

Alena shook her head. "No, I'm not sure how I un-died, but Neferet has something to do with it."

"Then I should thank her, baby. Maybe I'll—"

"No, Momma! You can't! You have to stay away from the school and away from Neferet. Whatever she did wasn't good. She pretends to be good, but she's the opposite."

"And this creature you call Rephaim?"

"He's been on the side of Darkness for a long time. His daddy is bad news and has messed up his head."

"But he saved your life?" Momma Hawkins asked.

"Twice, Momma , and he'd do it again. I know he would."

"Baby, think hard before you answer me two questions."

"Okay, Momma ."

"First, do you see good in him?"

"Yes," Alena said without hesitation. "I really do."

"Second, would he hurt you? Are you safe with him?"

"Momma , he faced a much more terrible monster to save me, and when he did that, the monster turned on him and hurt him. Real bad. He did that so I wouldn't get hurt. I honestly think he'd die before he hurt me."

"Then, here's the truth from my heart to yours: I can't begin to understand how he could be a mixture of a man and a bird, but I'm settin' that craziness aside 'cause he saved you and you're bound to him. What that means, sweetheart, is when the time comes for him to choose between the bad things in his past and a different future with you, if he's strong enough he will choose you."

"But my friends won't accept him, and the vampyres will try to kill him."

"Baby, if your Rephaim's done the bad things you say he has, and I do believe you, then he's got some consequences to pay. That's for him to do, not you. What you need to remember is this: the only person's actions you can control are you own. You do what's right, baby. You've always been good at that. Protect your own. Stand up for what you believe in. That's it—that's all you can do. And if this Rephaim stands beside you, you may be surprised at what happens."

Alena could feel her eyes filling up with tears again. "He said I had to go see you. He never knew his Momma. She was raped by his daddy and she died when he was born. But he told me not too long ago that I had to find a way to see you."

"Baby, a monster wouldn't say that."

"He's not human, Momma." Alena was gripping her Momma 's hands so hard her fingers felt numb, but she couldn't let go. She didn't ever want to let go.

"Alena, you're not human either, not no more, and that don't make a dang bit of difference to me. This Rephaim boy saved your life. Twice. So I really don't care if he's part rhinoceros and has a horn growing outta his forehead. He saved my girl, and you tell him next time you see him that he's gettin' a big ol' hug from me for that."

A giggle escaped Alena's mouth at the mental image of her Momma hugging Rephaim. "I'll tell him."

Momma Hawkins's face hardened into her serious expression. "You know, the sooner you come clean with everybody 'bout him, the better. Right?"

"I know. I'll try. There's a lot going on and it's really not a good time right now."

"It's always the right time for the truth," said Momma Hawkins.

"Oh, Momma , I don't know how I got myself into this mess."

"Sure you do, baby. I wasn't even there and I can tell you that somethin' 'bout this creature got through to you, and that somethin' might end up bein' his redemption."

"Only if he's strong enough," Alena said.

"And I don't know if he is. Far as I know he's never stood up to his daddy before."

"Would his daddy approve of you bein' with him?"

Alena scoffed, "Hell to the no."

"But he's saved your life twice and Imprinted with you. Baby, to me that says he's been standing up to his daddy for a while now."

"No, he did all that while his daddy was out of the country. He's back now, and

Rephaim is back to doing whatever his daddy wants him to do."

"Really? How do you know that?"

"He told me today when he—" Alena's words broke off and her eyes widened.

Her Momma smiled and nodded. "See?"

"Oh my good_ness_, you might be right!"

" 'Course I'm right. I'm your Momma."

"I love you, Momma, so much!" Alena said.

"And I love you right back, baby girl."


	46. Rephaim 46

"I cannot believe you are going to do this," Kalona said, pacing back and forth across the rooftop balcony of the Mayo.

"I am doing this because it is necessary, it is time, and it is the right thing to do!" Neferet's voice rose in tempo while she spoke as if she were exploding from the inside out.

"The _right _thing to do! As if you're a creature of Light?" Rephaim couldn't stop the words, nor could he school his voice to sound anything but incredulous.

Neferet rounded on him. She raised her hand. Rephaim could see threads of power quivering in the air around her, absorbing into her skin, crawling beneath it.

The sight made his stomach tighten as he remembered the terrible touch of those Dark threads. Automatically, he moved a step back from her.

"Are you questioning me, bird creature?" Neferet looked like she was readying herself to hurl the Darkness at him.

"Rephaim does not question you, just as I do not question you." His father moved closer to Neferet, stepping between the Tsi Sgili and him as he continued to speak with the calm voice of authority.

"We are both simply surprised."

"It is what Zoey and her allies would least expect me to do. So, even though it sickens me, I will abase myself—temporarily. By doing so I make Zoey impotent. If she so much as whispers against me, she will reveal herself to be the petulant child she really is."

"I would think you would rather destroy her than humiliate her," Rephaim said.

Neferet sneered at him and spoke to him as if he were an utter fool. "I have the ability to kill her tonight, but no matter how I orchestrated it, I would be implicated. Even those dotards on the High Council would be compelled to come here—to watch me, and to interfere with my plans. No, I am not ready for that, and until I am, I want Zoey Redbird gagged and put back in her place. She is a mere fledgling; she will be treated as such from here on out. And as I am taking care of Zoey I will also be revisiting her little group of friends—especially the one who calls herself the daughter of the red one." Neferet's laughter was mocking. "Alena? Daughter of the red one? I intend to reveal what she really is."

"And what is that?" Rephaim had to ask, though he kept his voice level, his expression as blank as he could make it.

"She is a vampyre who has known, and even embraced, Darkness."

"Ultimately she chose Light," Rephaim said, and realized that he'd spoken much too quickly when Neferet's eyes narrowed.

"But the fact that Darkness has touched her changes her forever," Kalona said.

Neferet smiled sweetly at Kalona. "You are so very right, my Consort."

"Couldn't knowing the touch of Darkness have a strengthening effect on the daughter of the Red One?" Rephaim was unable to stop himself from asking.

"Of course it has. The daughter of the Red One is a powerful vampyre, if young and inexperienced, which is exactly why she could be of excellent use to us, we bring here, her High Priestess will come," Kalona said.

"I believe there is even more to Alena than she has shown to her little friends. I saw her when she was in Darkness. She reveled in it," Neferet said. "I say we need to watch her and see what is beneath that _bright, innocent _exterior." Neferet enunciated the words sarcastically.

"As you wisssssh," Rephaim said, and was disgusted that the anger Neferet caused within him had him hissing like an animal.

Neferet stared at him. "I sense a change in you."

Rephaim forced himself to continue to meet her eyes steadily. "In my father's absence I was closer to death and Darkness than ever before during my long life. If you sense a change within me, perhaps that is it."

"Perhaps," Neferet said slowly. "And perhaps not. Why is it that I suspect you might not be entirely pleased your father and I have returned to Tulsa?"

Rephaim held himself very still so that the Tsi Sgili would not see the hate and anger that were flooding his body. "I am my father's favored son. As always, I stand beside him. The days he was absent from me were the darkest of my life."

"Really? How very terrible for you," Neferet said sarcastically. Then she dismissively turned from him to face Kalona. "Your _favored _son's words remind me—where are the rest of the creatures you call your children? Surely a handful of fledglings and nuns didn't manage to kill them all."

Kalona's jaw clenched and unclenched and his eyes blazed amber. Recognizing that his father was struggling to control his anger, Rephaim spoke up quickly. "I have surviving brothers. I saw them flee when you and my father were banished."

Neferet's eyes narrowed. "I am _banished _no more."

_No more, _Rephaim thought, meeting her gaze without so much as a blink, _but a handful of_ _fledglings and nuns did manage it once. _Again, Kalona drew her attention from him. "Theothers are not like Rephaim. They need help to hide in the city without being detected. They must have found safe places to nest farther from civilization."

When he spoke, his anger only bubbled under the surface of his words and did not boil over, though Rephaim wondered at how blind Neferet had become. Did she really believe she was so powerful that she could continually bait an ancient immortal without paying the consequence of his wrath?

"Well, we're back. They should be here. They're aberrations of nature, but they do have their uses. During the daylight hours they can stay in there, far away from my bedchamber." She waved toward the lush penthouse suite. "At night they can lurk out here and await my orders."

"You mean _my _orders." Kalona hadn't raised his voice, but the power that rumbled through it drew prickles of gooseflesh up and down Rephaim's arms. "My sons only obey me. They are bound to me through blood and magick and time. I alone control them."

"Then I assume you can control getting them here?"

"Yes."

"Well, summon them or have Rephaim herd them here, or whatever it is you do. I can't be expected to take care of everything."

"As you wish," Kalona said, echoing Rephaim's earlier statement.

"Now I'm going to go abase myself before aschool full of lesser beings because you did not keep Zoey Redbird from returning to this realm." Her eyes looked like green ice. "And that is why _you _now obey only _me. _Be here when I return." Neferet left the balcony. Her long cloak should have caught in the door she slammed behind her, but at the last moment it rippled and skittered closer to the Tsi Sgili's body, lapping around her ankles like a sticky pool of tar.

Rephaim faced his father, the ancient immortal he'd been serving faithfully for centuries. "How can you allow her to speak to you like that? To use you like that? She called my brothers aberrations of nature, but it is she who is the true monster!"

Rephaim knew he shouldn't have spoken to his father like that, but he couldn't help himself. Seeing the proud and powerful Kalona being ordered around like a servant was unbearable.

As Kalona approached Rephaim braced himself for what was surely to come. He'd seen his father's wrath unleashed before—he knew what to expect.

Kalona unfurled his great wings and loomed over his son, but the blow Rephaim expected did not come.

Instead when he met his father's gaze he saw despair and not anger.

Looking like a fallen god, Kalona said, "Not you, too. I expected her disrespect and disloyalty; she betrayed a goddess to free me. You, though, you I never believed would turn on me."

"Father! I have not!" Rephaim said, putting from his mind all thoughts of Alena. "I simply cannot bear the way she treats you."

"That is why I must discover a way to break that accursed oath." Kalona made a wordless sound of frustration and paced over to the balustraded stone railing, staring out into the night. "If only Nyx had stayed out of the battle with Stark. Then he would have remained dead and I know in my soul Zoey would never have found the strength to return to this realm and her body, not with two of her lovers dead."

Rephaim followed his father to the railing. "Dead? You killed Stark in the Otherworld?"

Kalona snorted, "Of course I killed that boy. He and I battled. He could not possibly have defeated me, even if he did manage to become a Guardian and wield the great Guardian claymore."

"Nyx resurrected Stark?" Rephaim said, incredulous. "But the Goddess doesn't interfere with human choice. It was Stark's _choice _to defend Zoey against you."

"Nyx did not resurrect Stark. I did."

Rephaim blinked in shock. "You?"

Kalona nodded and continued to stare out at the night sky, not meeting his son's gaze as he spoke in a strained voice as if he had to force each word from his throat. "I killed Stark. I believed Zoey would retreat then and remain in the Otherworld with the souls of her Warrior and mate. Or perhaps her spirit would shatter forever and she would be a wandering Caoinic Shi'." Kalona paused and then added, "Though I did not wish the latter on her. I do not hate her as does Neferet."

To Rephaim it seemed his father was talking aloud to himself more than speaking to him, so when Kalona went silent he was silent and patient, not wanting to interrupt him, waiting for him to continue.

"Zoey is stronger than I anticipated." Kalona continued speaking to the night. "Instead of retreating or shattering, she attacked." The winged immortal chuckled at the memory. "She skewered me with my own spear and then ordered me to return Stark's life to repay the life debt I owed for killing that boy of hers. I refused, of course."

Unable to stay silent, Rephaim blurted, "But life debts are powerful things, Father."

"True, but I am a powerful immortal. Consequences that govern mortals do not apply to me."

Rephaim's thoughts, like a cold wind, whispered through his mind: _Perhaps he is wrong. Perhaps_

_what is happening to Father is part of the consequences he has considered himself too powerful to pay._

But Rephaim knew better than tocorrect Kalona, so he simply continued, "You refusedZoey, and then what happened?"

"Nyx happened," Kalona said bitterly. "I could refuse a childlike High Priestess. I could not refuse the Goddess. I could never refuse the Goddess. I breathed a sliver of my immortality into Stark. He lived. Zoey returned to her body and managed to rescue her Warrior from the Otherworld, too. And I am under the control of a Tsi Sgili who I believe to be utterly mad." Kalona looked at Rephaim. "If I do not break this bondage she may take me into madness with her. She has a connection wit Darkness that I have not so much as sensed in centuries. It is as powerful as it is seductive and dangerous."

"You should kill Zoey." Rephaim spoke the words slowly, haltingly, hating himself for every syllable because he knew the pain Zoey's death would cause Alena.

"I have, of course, already considered that."

Rephaim held his breath when Kalona paused. "And I have come to believe that if I kill Zoey Redbird it would be an open affront to Nyx. I have not served the Goddess in many ages. I have done things she would view as"—Kalona paused again, this time struggling with his words—"unforgivable. But I have never taken the life of any priestess in her service."

"Do you fear Nyx?" Rephaim asked.

"Only a fool does not fear a goddess. Even Neferet avoids Nyx's wrath by not killing Zoey, though the Tsi Sgili does not admit so to herself." "Neferet is so swollen with Darkness that she no longer thinks rationally," Rephaim said.

"True, but just because she is irrational that does not mean she isn't clever. For instance, I believe she may be correct about the daughter of the Red One—she could be used or perhaps even turned from the path she has chosen along with The Red One." Kalona shrugged. "Or they both can continue to stand with Zoey and be destroyed when Neferet comes against her."

"Father, I do not believe it is simply that Alena and Stevie Raestands with Zoey. I believe they stand with Nyx, too. Is it logical to assume Nyx's first red High Priestess and the first Changed Vampyre female would be special to the Goddess, and therefore should they remain untouched like Zoey?"

"I see validity in your words, my son." Kalona nodded his head in solemn agreement. "If she does not turn from the path of the Goddess, I will not harm the daughter of the Red One or her daughter. Instead of me, Neferet will be incurring Nyx's wrath if she destroys Alena."

Rephaim maintained a tight control on his voice and expression. "That is a wise decision, Father."

"Of course there are other ways of hindering a High Priestess and her daughter without killing her."

"What do you plan to do to hinder the daughter of the Red One?" Rephaim asked.

"I do not plan to do anything to the daughter of the Red One until Neferet manages to coerce her from her path, and then I will either direct her powers or step aside while Neferet destroys her." Kalona waved away the question. "I was thinking of Zoey. If Zoey can be persuaded to come against Neferet publically, the Tsi Sgili will be completely distracted. You and I can focus on breaking my bond to her."

"But, as Neferet said, after tonight if Zoey speaks against her she will be admonished and discredited. Zoey is wise enough to know that. She won't publically clash with Neferet."

Kalona smiled. "Ah, but what if her Warrior, her Guardian, the one person on this earth she trusts above all others, begins to whisper to her that she shouldn't allow Neferet to get away with her evil deeds? That she must fulfill her role as High Priestess, no matter the supposed consequences, and stand up to Neferet."

"Stark would not do that."

Kalona's smile widened. "My spirit can enter Stark's body."

Rephaim gasped. "How?"

Still grinning, Kalona shrugged his broad shoulders. "I do not know. I have not experienced this ever before."

"So this is more than entering the realm of dreams and finding a sleeping spirit?"

"Much more. Stark was completely awake and I followed a connection I believed would lead me to Aya in the realm of dreams, if Zoey had been sleeping. The connection took me to Stark—_into_ Stark. I believe he sensed something, but I do not believe he knew it was me." Kalona cocked his head, considering. "Perhaps my ability to mingle my spirit with his is a result of the sliver of my immortality I breathed within him."

… _Immortality I breathed within him. _His father's words swirled around and around in Rephaim's mind. Something was there—something they were both missing. "Have you never shared your Immortality with another being?"

Kalona's smile faded. "Of course not. My immortality is not a power I would willingly share with another."

And suddenly what had been niggling at the edge of Rephaim's thoughts burst into understanding. No wonder Kalona had appeared different since he'd returned from the Otherworld. It all made sense now. "Father! What was the exact wording of the oath you swore to Neferet?"

Kalona frowned at his son, but he recited the oath:

"If I failed in my sworn quest to destroy Zoey

Redbird, fledging High Priestess of Nyx, Neferet shall hold dominion over my spirit for as long as I am an immortal."

Excitement coursed through Rephaim's body.

"And how do you know Neferet actually has dominion over your spirit?"

"I did not destroy Zoey; she must have dominion over me."

"No, Father. If you shared your immortality with Stark, you are no longer completely an immortal, just as Stark is no longer completely a mortal. The conditions of the oath do not exist, nor did they ever. You are not truly bound to Neferet."

"I am not truly bound to Neferet?" Kalona's expression shifted from disbelief to shock, and finally to joy.

"I do not believe you are," Rephaim said.

"There is only one way to be certain," Kalona said. Rephaim nodded. "You must openly disobey her."

"That, my son, will be a pleasure."

As he watched his father throw his arms back and shout joyously to the sky, Rephaim knew that tonight would change everything, and no matter what he had to figure out a way to be sure Alena was safe.


	47. Alena 47

"You can't kill anyone!" Alena cried as Rephaim picked up a fallen Son of Erebus's sword.

He looked at her and whispered, "Force Kalona to go against Neferet's wishes. It is the only way to end this." Then he ran to do his father's bidding.

_Force Kalona to go against Neferet? What is Rephaim talking about? Isn't Kalona under her control? _Alena struggled to stand up, but thoseterrible black threads had not just sliced through herforce field, they had also drained her.

She feltweak and light-headed and wanted to puke her gutsout. Then Zoey and Stevie Rae was there, crouching beside her, andStark was standing guard in front of the two of them,positioning himself between them and the bloodybattle between the Sons of Erebus and Kalona andRephaim.

Alena looked up just in time to see agiant sword materialize in his hand. She grabbed

Stevie Rae's wrist.

"Don't let Stark hurt Rephaim!" Alena begged her High Priestess. Stevie Rar met her eyes. "Please," she told her. "Please trust me."

Stevie Rae nodded once, and Zoey called to her Warrior. "Don't hurt Rephaim."

Stark turned his head, though he didn't take his eyes from the battle. "I'll damn sure hurt him if he attacks you," he retorted.

"He won't," Alena said.

"I wouldn't bet on it," Aphrodite said, running up to the two of them while Darius, his own sword drawn, joined Stark, joining the barrier between danger and their priestesses. "You have royally fucked up this time."

"Hate to agree with Aphrodikey," Erin said.

"_Really _hate to, but she's right," Shaunee said.

Damien, looking haggard, knelt on the other side of Alena. "We can yell at Alena later.

Right now let's just figure out how to get her out of this mess," he said.

"You don't understand," Alena told him, her eyes filling up with tears.

Damien stared at her for what seemed like a long time before he replied, "Oh, I see. I do understand because before I lost it, I learned a lot about love."

Before Alena could say anything else, a painful cry from one of the Sons of Erebus Warriors drew all of their eyes. Kalona had just stabbed him in the meaty part of his thigh, and the young Warrior had gone down, but as quickly as he'd fallen, another Warrior dragged him out of the way and yet another took his place, closing the break in the deadly circle around the winged beings.

They were fighting back to back. Alena wanted to curl up and die as she watched the House of Night Warriors press the attack over and over.

Perfectly matched, perfectly in tune, Kalona and Rephaim complemented each other's movements.

In one part of her brain, Alena could acknowledge the beauty of the lethal dance that was going on between the Warriors and the winged beings—there was a grace and a symmetry to the fight that was awe-inspiring.

But in most of her brain she just wanted to scream at Rephaim, _Run! Fly_ _away! Get outta here! Save yourself!_

A Warrior lunged at Rephaim and at the very last moment he parried the blow. Sick and scared and almost completely defeated by the terrible unknown of what was going to happen to both of them, it took Alena longer than it should have for her to really see what Rephaim was doing.

And when she did see it, Alena felt the sweet stirring of hope.

"Stevie Rae," she clutched her High Priestess hand, unwilling to look away from the battle. "Watch Rephaim. He's not attacking. He's not hurting anyone. He's only defending himself."

Stevie Rae paused, observing, and then said, "You're right. Alena, you're right! He's not attacking."

Pride for Rephaim made Alena's chest hurt, like her heart was thudding too hard to be held inside her rib cage.

The Warriors kept attacking, brutal and deadly in their intent. Kalona kept wounding, maiming, and even killing. Rephaim continued to only defend himself—he blocked blows, he feinted and lunged, but he harmed none of the Warriors who were so obviously trying to kill him.

"She's correct," Darius said. "The Raven Mocker is entirely on the defensive."

"Press them! Kill them!" Neferet shouted. Alena took her gaze from Rephaim long enough to glance at her. Neferet looked bloated with power, reveling in the violence and destruction that was happening before her. Why didn't anyone else see the horrible Darkness that pulsed and slithered in excitement around her, wrapping around her legs, caressing her body, feeding from her power as, in turn, Neferet fed from the death and destruction around her?

With an avenging Dragon Lankford leading them, the Sons of Erebus Warriors redoubled their attack.

"I have to stop it," Alena spoke more to herself than aloud. "Before it goes too far and can't help but kill somebody, I have to stop it."

"There's no stopping it," Zoey said quietly. "I think Neferet planned something like this all along. Kalona's probably here because she told him to be."

"Kalona may be, but Rephaim isn't," Alena said firmly. "He came here to be sure I'm okay, and I'm not gonna let him go die because of that."

Still watching the bloody battle, Alena imagined she was a small light that gained intensity and grew strong and her legs were getting stronger and growing brightly going way, way up deep into the sky. So high and deep that Neferet's sticky threads of Darkness couldn't reach her. The pure essence of the force field surged up into her body.

Alena stood. She waved away Stevie Rae's hand, and when she did Alena caught sight of her own hand. It was glowing with a soft, familiar red. She started walking forward, toward Rephaim.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" Stark asked. Beside him, Darius looked solid and very much in her way.

"To dance with beasts, so I'm gonna penetrate their disguise." The quote from Kramisha's poem drifted through her mind, dream-like.

"Okay, crazy much?" Aphrodite said. "You need to stay your butt here and out of that mess over there."

Alena ignored Aphrodite and faced down the two Warriors. "I'm Imprinted with him. My decision's made. If you gotta fight me—fight me, but I'm going over there to Rephaim."

"No one's fighting you, Alena," Zoey said.

"Let her go," Stevie Rae told Stark and Darius.

"I need your help," Alena told Zoey. "If you'll trust me, come with me and give me a boost with spirit."

"No! You can't get mixed up in that," Stark told Zoey.

Zoey smiled at him. "But we've already mixed it up with Kalona and we won, remember?"

Stark snorted. "Yeah, after I died."

"Don't worry, Guardian. I'll save you again if I need to." Zoey said as Stevie Rae turned back to Alena. "You said Rephaim saved your life?"

"Twice, and he had to stand up to Darkness to do it. Rephaim has good inside him. You have to believe me. Stevie Rae. Just like those other red fledglings. Please, _please _trust me."

"I trust you. I'll always trust you," Stevie Rae said.

"I'm going with Alena,"Zoey told Stark, who didn't look happy at all about that news.

"I'm going too," Damien said, dry-eyed. "If you need air, it'll be there for you. I still believe in love."

"I don't like the birdthing, but air's not going without fire," Shaunee said.

"Ditto, Twin," Erin said.

"I'm going too. You're my daughter and I'm your High Priestess. I'm with you. Besides, nothing a little earth can't help kick."

Alena met each of their gazes. "Thanks you guys. This means more to me that I can ever tell you."

"Oh, for shit's sake. Let's go save the unattractive birdboy so the bumpkin can live unhappily ever after," Aphrodite said.

"Yeah, let's do that, only take both _un_s outta that sentence," Stevie Rae said, and with the circle

forming around Stevie Rae flanked by Stark and Darius, Alena led them forward.

Still channeling the glow, she didn't hesitate, but strode over to the scene of blood and destruction, getting as close to Rephaim as she could.

"No!" he yelled, catching a glimpse of her. "Stay back!"

"Like hell I am!"Alena yelled as Stevie Rae looked at Damien.

"Time to cowboy up. Call air."

Damien faced east. "Air, I need you. Come to me!" Wind whirled around him, lifting his and everyone else's hair.

Stevie Rae raised her brows at Shaunee, who rolled her eyes, but faced south and called, "Fire, come burn for me, baby!" While heat joined air, and without any prompting, Erin faced west and said,

"Water, come on and join the circle!" The scent of spring showers touched their faces.

As quickly as water joined them, Stevie Rae looked northward and said, "Earth, you're already with me. Please join the circle, too." The root-like connection came to her.

From beside her, Z said, "Spirit, please complete our circle."

There was a wonderful sense of well-being that

Alena held onto as she stepped out from her group, as if she was their spearhead. Fully

empowered by her power, she raised her arms, channeled her force field and said, "Shield, make a barrier to end stop this fighting. Please."

She pointed at the men.

"Help her, air," Damien said.

"Fire her up, fire," Shaunee added.

"Support her, water," Erin said.

"Carry out to her, Earth."

"Fill her, spirit," Zoey said.

Alena felt a shot of adrenaline rush from the circle around her, up through her feet, and into her hand. Vine-like, red tendrils shot from the ground, making a caged barrier all around Rephaim and Kalona, completely halting the fighting.

They all turned to look at her.

"Good, now we can figure this out," Alena said.

"So, Zoey and your circle—you've decided to ally with Darkness, too," Neferet said.

Before Zoey could respond Stevie Rae said, "Neferet, that's as nutty as squirrel turds. Z just got back from hangin' out with Nyx in the Otherworld. She managed to kick Kalona's ass there, and bring her Warrior back safe and sound with her—somethin' no other High Priestess has ever been able to do. She's not exactly Darkness material."

Neferet opened her mouth to speak and Stevie Rae cut her off. "No! I only have one more thing to say to you—no matter who you fool, I want you to know I'll never believe you've changed. You're a liar, and you're really, really not nice. I have seen the white bull, and I know the Darkness you're playin' with; I know just how wacked you are. Heck, Neferet, I can see that stuff slithering 'round you right now. So. Back. The. Hell. Off."

Alena focused on Kalona. She opened her mouth and suddenly her words dried up. The winged immortal looked like an avenging god. His bare chest was spattered with blood and his black spear dripped gore. His eyes shined amber as they stared at her with an expression that was amusement mixed with disdain.

_How did I ever think I could stand up to him?_

Alena's mind shouted inside her head. _He's too powerful, and I'm nothing—just nothing …_

"Strengthen her, spirit," Zoey's voice whispered to her, carried on the wind Damien had conjured.

Alena pulled her gaze from Kalona's, meeting Zoey's eyes, Zoey nodded while Stevie Rae said, "Go on. Finish what you started. You can do it."

Alena felt a rush of gratitude. As her gaze returned to Kalona, she pulled deeply from the roots

she imagined connecting her to her force field and with that lifeline of power, and the support of her friends, she finished what she'd started.

"Okay, everyone knows that you used to be Nyx's Warrior, but you're here because something got messed up," she said matter-of-factly, "which means _you _messed up. It also means that

even though you've gone all evil, you used to know about honor and loyalty and maybe even love. So I have something to tell you about your son, and I want you to listen to me. I don't know how or why it happened, but I love him, I really love him, more than I can say, and I think he loves me." Here she paused and met Rephaim's gaze.

"I do," he said clearly and distinctly so that his voice carried to everyone watching. "I love you,

Alena."

She took one moment to smile at him, full on, filled with pride, and happiness, and above all, love.

Then she refocused on Kalona. "Yes, it's weird and I know it's never gonna be a normal relationship, and I know we have to deal with lots of issues with my friends, but I don't care because I can give Rephaim kindness and a life where he'll know peace and happiness. But I can't do that unless you free him. You have to free him, Kalona. You have to let him make his own choice between staying with you or changing his path. I believe, that somewhere deep inside _you _is still a tiny sliver of Nyx's Warrior, and _that_ Kalona, the one who protected our Goddess, would do the right thing. Please be that Kalona again, if only just for one second."

Into the long silence where Kalona stared unblinkingly at Alena, Neferet's voice intruded —disdainful and arrogant. "Enough of this silly charade. I'll take care of the barrier. Dragon, exact your revenge on the Raven Mocker. And you, Kalona, you I order to be banished from my side as you were before. Nothing has changed between us."

As she spoke, Alena watched her pull from the shadows all around them, and from her own body, the slithering black tentacles that seemed to always be near her now.

Alena readied herself. It was going to be awful, but she wasn't going to back down, and that meant she was gonna have to stand up to Darkness again.

But just as she felt the first tug of pain and chill, and the drain Darkness caused within her shield, the winged immortal raised one hand slightly, and said,

"Halt! I've long allied with Darkness. Obey my command. This is not your battle. _Begone_!"

"No!" Neferet shrieked as the sticky threads, invisible to almost everyone present, began to slither away to be reabsorbed into the shadows from whence they came. Neferet turned on Kalona.

"Foolish creature! What are you doing? I ordered you to leave. You _must _obey my command! I am High Priestess here!"

"I am not under your control! Nor have I ever been." Kalona's smile was victorious and he looked so magnificent for a moment Alena's breath caught at the sight of him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Neferet recovered quickly. "It is I who was under your control."

Kalona glanced around the school grounds, taking in the wide-eyed fledglings and the vampyres who were either armed against him or frozen somewhere between their desire to run from him and their desire to adore him. "Ah, children of Nyx, like me, many of you have stopped listening to your Goddess. When will you learn?"

Then the winged immortal looked to his right. Rephaim was standing there, silently watching his father.

"It is true you have Imprinted with the daughter of the Red One?"

"Yes, Father. It is."

"And you saved her life? More than once?"

"As she has saved mine in turn, more than once. It was she who truly healed me from the fall. It was she who filled the terrible wound Darkness ripped within me later, after I faced the white bull for her."

Rephaim's eyes found Alena's. "As payment for freeing her from Darkness, she touched me with the power of Light she wields, that of the earth."

"I didn't do as a payment. I did that because I

Hated seeing you hurt." said Alena.

Slowly, as if it were difficult for him, Kalona lifted his hand and rested it on his son's shoulder. "You know she can never love you as a woman loves a man? You will forever desire something she cannot, will not, give you."

"Father, what she gives me is more than I have ever known before."

Alena saw pain twist Kalona's face, if only for an instant. "I have given you love as my son, my favorite son," he said so softly she had to strain to hear him.

Rephaim hesitated and when he answered his father, Alena could hear the raw honesty in his voice, and the heartache the admission cost him.

"Perhaps in another world, another life, that might have been true. In this one you gave me power and discipline and anger, but you did not give me love. Never love."

Kalona's eyes flashed, but Alena thought she saw more pain than anger within their amber depths.

"Then in this world, in this life, I shall give you one more thing: choice. Choose, Rephaim. Choose between the father you have served and followed faithfully for eons and the power that service has afforded you, and the love of this Red Vampyre ,who will never be completely yours because she will always, always be horrified by the monster within you."

Rephaim's eyes found hers. She saw the question in them and answered it before he could ask it aloud.

"I don't see a monster when I look at you, not outside or inside. I'm not horrified by you. I love

you, Rephaim. I think I always have."

Rephaim closed his eyes for a moment, and she felt a quiver of unease. He was good—Alena believed that, but to choose her over his father would change the course of his life forever. He was part immortal, and forever could be a literal thing for him. Maybe he couldn't—maybe he wouldn't—maybe he––"Father—" Alena opened her eyes the second she heard Rephaim's voice. He was speaking to Kalona, but he was still looking at her.

"I choose Alena, and the path of the Goddess."

Her gaze darted to Kalona in time to see the grimace of pain pass over his face. "Then so be it.

From this day forth you are no longer my son." He paused and Rephaim turned his gaze from her to the winged immortal. "I would offer you Nyx's blessing, but she no longer hears me. So instead I offer you a piece of advice: if you love her with everything within you, when you realize she does not love you in the same way—and she will not, cannot—it will kill everything within you." Kalona unfurled his great wings, lifted both arms, and proclaimed, "Rephaim is free of me! So I have spoken. So let it be!"

Afterward, Alean would think about that moment and the way the air quivered around

Rephaim with his immortal father's release. Then all she could do was to stare wide-eyed at Rephaim as the red tint that had been present in his eyes for as long as she had been looking into them faded, leaving only the wide, dark eyes of a human boy staring at her from the head of an enormous raven.

Wings still extended, body still magnified by power and, Alena liked to believe, by the grief he had to feel somewhere inside him at the loss of his son, Kalona moved his amber gaze to Neferet.

He didn't say one word. He only laughed and then launched himself into the night sky, leaving a trail of mocking laughter behind him and one other thing. From the air a single white feather dropped to the ground at Alena's feet.

It shocked her so much that the shield she'd erected around Rephaim dissipated, but she was staring at the feather so intently that Alena didn't even realize her concentration had utterly shattered.

She was bending to pick up the feather when Neferet commanded Dragon.

"Now that the immortal has fled, kill his son. I am not fooled by this charade."

Alena felt the terribly familiar sting of Darkness breaking her connection to her shield, weakening her.

She was unable to even cry out as she watched Dragon descend on Rephaim.


	48. Rephaim 48

Rephaim hadn't even had time to take in what had happened when Neferet ordered his death.

He was watching Alena in wonder as she stared down at something white in the grass. Then chaos ensued.

The red glow that had been surrounding him faded. Alena turned ghostly pale and swayed dizzily. The Raven Mocker was so focused on Alena that he didn't even know Dragon was attacking, and then her friend Zoey was suddenly there before him, placing herself between him and the avenging Sons of Erebus.

"No. We don't attack people who choose the path of the Goddess." She spoke in an amplified voice, and the Warriors halted uncertainly in front of her.

Rephaim noted that Stark had moved to stand on one side of her, and Darius on the other. Both

Warriors had their swords raised, but their expressions spoke volumes; it was obvious neither of them wanted to strike their brothers.

_My fault. It is my fault they stand against each other. _Rephaim's thoughts were jumbled with self-loathingand uncertainty as he hurried to Alena.

"Will you have Warrior turn against Warrior?" Neferet asked Zoey incredulously.

"Will you have our Warriors kill someone in the service of their Goddess?" countered Zoey.

"So now you are able to judge what is in another's heart?" Neferet said, sounding smug and wise. "Not even _real _High Priestesses claim such a divine ability."

Rephaim felt the change in the air before she materialized. It was as if a thunderstorm had been contained and its lightning had charged the air around them. In the middle of the surge of power and light and sound, the Great Goddess of Night, Nyx, appeared.

"_No, Neferet, Zoey cannot claim such a divine ability, but I can."_

Every tentacle of Darkness that had been searching and draining and lurking slithered away at the sound of her divine voice. Beside him, Alena gasped, like she'd let loose the breath she'd been holding, and dropped to her knees.

From all around him Rephaim heard awestruck whispers of "It's Nyx!" "It's the Goddess!" "Oh, blessed be!"

And then his attention was consumed by Nyx.

She was, indeed, night personified. Her hair was like the full hunters' moon, shining with a silver luminescence. Her eyes were the new moon sky—black and limitless. The rest of her body was almost completely transparent. Rephaim thought he caught a glimpse of dark silk lifting in a breeze of its own, and a woman's curves—and perhaps even a crescent moon tattooed on her smooth forehead, but the more he tried to focus on the Goddess's image, the more transparent and incandescent she became.

It was then that he noticed he was the only one still standing. Everyone else had knelt to the Goddess, and he, too, knelt.

He quickly realized that he didn't need to worry about his late response. Nyx's attention was elsewhere. She was floating over to Damien, who, ironically, had no idea she approached because he was kneeling with his head bowed and his eyes closed.

"_Damien, my son, look at me."_

Damien's head lifted, and his eyes opened wide in surprise. "Oh, Nyx! It's really you! I thought I'd imagined you here."

"_Perhaps in a way, you did. I want you to know that your Jack is with me, and he is one of the purest, most joy-filled spirits my realm has ever known."_

Tears filled and overflowed Damien's eyes.

"Thank you. Thank you for telling me that. It will help me try to get over him."

"_My son, there is no need to get over Jack. Remember him, and rejoice in the brief, beautiful love you shared. Choosing to do so does not mean forgetting or getting over, it means healing."_

Damien smiled through his tears. "I'll remember. I'll always remember and choose your path, Nyx. I give you my word."

The Goddess's hovering form turned so that her dark gaze took in the rest of them. Rephaim saw Nyx look fondly at Zoey, who grinned.

"Merry meet, my Goddess," Zoey said, shocking Rephaim with the familiar tone of her voice.

Shouldn't she be more respectful—more fearful— when addressing the Goddess?

"_Merry meet, Zoey Redbird!" _The Goddess returned the fledgling High Priestess's grin, and he thought, for a moment, she looked like an exquisitely lovely little girl—a little girl who was suddenly familiar to him.

With a jolt Rephaim recognized her. The ghost! The ghost had been the Goddess!

Then Nyx began speaking, addressing the entire gathering, and her visage shifted to an ethereal being so brilliant and beautiful it was difficult to gaze upon her and impossible to think about anything except the words that she spoke like a symphony over them all. _"Much has happened here this night._

_Spirit-altering choices were made, which means, for some of you, new life paths have opened. For others, your paths have been sealed, your choices made long ago. And yet others of you are at a life precipice." _The Goddess's gaze lingered on Neferet,who instantly bowed her head. _"You have changed, daughter. You are not as you once were. Truly, can I still call you daughter?"_

"Nyx! Great Goddess! How could I not be your daughter?"

Neferet did not raise her head as she spoke to the Goddess, and her thick fall of auburn hair completely covered her face, blanketing her expression.

"_Tonight you asked for forgiveness. Zoey gave one answer. I shall give you another. Forgiveness is a very special gift, and it must be earned."_

"I ask humbly that you share that special gift with me, Nyx," Neferet said, still bowing her head and hiding her face.

"_When you earn the gift, you will receive it."_

Abruptly, the Goddess turned from Neferet, her attention turning to the Sword Master, who closed his fist over his heart respectfully to her. _"Your_ _Anastasia is free of pain and remorse. Will you_ _make Damien's choice, and learn to rejoice in the_ _love you had and move on, or will your choice_ _destroy that which she loved so much about you—_ _your ability to be both strong and merciful?"_

Rephaim was watching Dragon, waiting for a response from the Sword Master that did not come, when Nyx spoke his name.

"_Rephaim."_

He looked Nyx full in the face for only an instant, and then Rephaim remembered what he was and he

bowed his head in shame and spoke the first words that flooded his mind. "Please don't look at me!"

He felt Alena's hand slide into his.

"Don't worry. She's not here to punish you." Stevie Rae said as she watched the embrace between them.

"_And how do you know that, young High Priestess?"_

Alena's grip tightened spasmodically on his

hand, as she heard Stevie Rae's voice didn't falter. " 'Cause you _can _see into his heart, and Alena and I know what you'll find there."

"_What do you believe is in the Raven Mocker's heart, Alena?"_

"I don't think he's a Raven Mocker anymore. His daddy released him. So now I think

he's a-a new kinda, uh, boy-who's-never-been before. Sort of like Pinocchio."

She tripped over the words, but managed to finish.

"_I see you are bound to him," _was the Goddess's enigmatic response.

"I am," she said firmly.

"_Even if your bond means splitting this House of Night, and perhaps, this world, in two?"_

"My momma used to prune her roses real fierce, and I thought she was gonna hurt them, maybe kill them. When I asked her about it she told me sometimes you have to cut away the old stuff to make room for the new. Maybe it's time to we did what she did," Alena said.

Her words surprised him so much that Rephaim turned his eyes from the ground to Alena. She smiled at him and at that moment, he wished more than anything else, he could smile back at her and take her in his arms like a real boy would be able to do, because what he saw in her eyes was warmth and love and happiness with not even the slightest glimpse of remorse or rejection.

Alena gave him the strength to look up at the Goddess and meet her infinite gaze.

And what he saw there was familiar because mirrored in Nyx's eyes was the same warmth and love and happiness he'd seen within Alena's gaze.

Rephaim dropped Alena's hand so that he could close his fist over his heart, in the ancient, respectful greeting. "Merry meet, Goddess Nyx."

"_Merry meet, Rephaim," _she said. _"You are the only child of Kalona's to turn from the rage and pain of your conception, and the hatred that has filled your long life, and seek Light."_

"None of the others had Alena," he said.

"_It is true that she influenced your choice, but you had to be open to her and respond with Light instead of Darkness."_

"That hasn't always been my choice. In the past I've done terrible things. These Warriors are right to want me dead," Rephaim said.

"_Do you regret your past?"_

"I do."

"_Do you choose a new future where you pledge yourself to my path?"_

"I do."

"_Rephaim, son of the fallen immortal Warrior Kalona, I accept you into my service, and I forgive you for the mistakes of your past."_

"Thank you, Nyx." Rephaim's voice was rough with emotion as he spoke to the Goddess, _his Goddess._

"_Will you thank me when I tell you that though I forgive you and accept you, there are consequences you must pay for the choices of your past?"_

"No matter what comes next, for an eternity I will thank you. This I swear," he said with no hesitation.

"_Let us hope that you will have many, many years to live up to your oath. Know then that this is_

_your consequence." _Nyx raised her arms as if she could cup the moon in the palms of her hands. It seemed to Rephaim she was gathering light from the stars themselves.

"_Because you have awakened_ _the humanity within you, I will, each night from_ _setting sun to rising sun, gift you with this: the true_ _form you deserve." _The Goddess hurled the glowing power that had coalesced between her hands at him. It shuddered through his body, causing a pain so terrible that he screamed in agony and crumpled to the ground.

As he lay there, paralyzed, the Goddess's voice was the only sound that broke through to him.

"_To atone for your past, by day you_ _will lose your true form and return to that of the_

_raven, who knows nothing except the base desires of a beast. Consider well how you use your humanity. Learn from the past and balance the beast. So I have spoken—so mote it be!"_

The pain was beginning to recede and Rephaim was able to look up at the Goddess again as she opened her arms to take in everyone and said joyously, _"I leave the rest of you with my love, if you_ _so choose to accept it, and my desire that you will always blessed be."_

Nyx disappeared in what looked like an explosion of the moon. The brightness of it was blinding, which didn't help Rephaim's lingering confusion. His body felt strange, unfamiliar, dizzy …

Rephaim looked down at himself. His shock was so intense he could not, for a moment, comprehend what he saw.

_Why_ _am I inside a boy? _passed through his jumbled mind.

It was Alena's sobs that finally got through to him. He was able to focus on her and when he did, Rephaim realized she was crying and laughing at the same time.

"What has happened?" he asked, still not fully understanding.

Alena didn't seem to be able to speak because she just kept crying what looked like happy tears.

A hand came into his line of vision and he looked up to see the Red High Priestess, Stevie Rae, smiling wryly at him. Rephaim took her offered hand and stood a little shakily.

"What's happened is our Goddess has zapped you into being a guy," Zoey said.

The truth hit him then and it almost drove him to his knees again. "I'm human. Completely human."

Rephaim stared down at the strong, tall body of a young Cherokee warrior.

"Yeah, you are, but only during the nighttime," Stevie Rae was saying. "During the day you're gonna be completely a raven."

Rephaim barely heard her. He was already turning to Alena.

He must have been knocked away from her when Nyx changed him, because she was no longer by his side.

She took one small, hesitant step toward him and then stopped, looking unsure and wiping her face.

"Is it—is it bad? Do I look wrong?" he blurted.

"No," she said, staring into his eyes. "You're perfect. Absolutely perfect. You're the boy we saw in

the fountain."

"Will you … can I…" His voice trailed off. Rephaim was too filled with emotion to find the right words, so he moved instead, closing the space between Alena and him in two long, strong, _totally_ _human _strides.

With no hesitation he took her in his arms, and then he did what he had barely even allowed himself to do in his dreams. Rephaim bent and kissed Alena's soft lips with his own. He tasted her tears and her laughter, and finally he knew what it was to be truly, completely happy.

So it was reluctantly that he pulled back and told her, "Wait. There's something I have to do."

Dragon Lankford was easy to find. Though everyone was staring at him and Alena, Rephaim felt the Sword Master's gaze distinctly.

He approached Dragon slowly, making no sudden movements. Even so, the Warriors that stood to either side of him shifted, obviously ready to fight by their Sword Master's side once more. Rephaim stopped in front of Dragon. He met his gaze and saw the pain and anger there. Rephaim nodded in acknowledgment. "I have caused you great loss. I make no excuses for what I was. I can only tell you that I was wrong. I do not ask you to forgive me as the Goddess has." Rephaim paused and sank to one knee.

"What I ask is that you allow me to repay the life debt I owe you by serving you. If you accept me, for as long as I breathe I will, with my actions and my honor, attempt to atone for the loss of your mate."

Dragon said nothing. He only stared at Rephaim as warring emotions passed over his face: hatred, despair, anger, and sadness. Until finally they coalesced into a mask of cold determination.

"Get off your knees, creature." Dragon's voice was emotionless. "I cannot accept your oath. I cannot bear to look at you. I will not allow you to serve me."

"Dragon, think about what you're saying," Zoey Redbird spoke up, walking quickly to Rephaim's side with Stark close by her. "I know it's hard—I know what it's like to lose someone you love, but you have to make a choice about how you go on from there, and it feels like you're choosing Darkness instead of Light."

Dragon's eyes were cruel, his voice cold, as he answered the young High Priestess. "You say you know what it's like to lose a love? How long did you love that human boy? Less than a decade!

Anastasia was my mate for more than a _century._" Rephaim saw Zoey flinch, as if his words had physically hurt her, and Stark moved closer to her side, his gaze narrowed on the Sword Master.

"And that is why a child cannot lead a House of Night. Nor can she be a true High Priestess, no matter how indulgent our Goddess is," Neferet said, moving silkily to Dragon's side and touching his arm deferentially.

"Hang on there a sec, Hateful. I don't remember Nyx actually saying she'd forgiven you. She talked

about _if_s and _gifts, _but correct me if I'm wrong, no _hey there, Neferet, you're forgiven_s," Aphrodite said.

"You do not belong at this school!" Neferet yelled at her. "You are not a fledgling anymore!"

"No, she's a Prophetess, remember?" Zoey said, sounding calm and wise. "Even the High Council has said so."

Instead of answering Zoey, Neferet addressed the crowd of watching fledglings and vampyres. "Do you see how they twist the words of the Goddess, even just moments after she has appeared to us?"

Rephaim knew she was evil—knew she was no longer in the service of Nyx, but even he had to acknowledge how fierce and beautiful she looked.

He also had to acknowledge the threads of Darkness that had reappeared and begun to slither to her again, filling her, feeding her need for power.

"No one's twisting anything," Zoey said. "Nyx forgave Rephaim and changed him into a kid. She

also reminded Dragon he had a choice to make about his future. And she let you know forgiveness is a gift from her that has to be _earned. _That's all I'm saying. That's all any of us is saying."

"Dragon Lankford, as Sword Master and Leader of this House of Night's Sons of Erebus, do you accept this—" Neferet paused, glancing at Rephaim with loathing. "—this aberration as one of your own?"

"No," Dragon said. "No, I cannot accept him."

"Then I cannot accept him, either. Rephaim, you will not be allowed to remain at this House of Night. Begone, foul creature, and atone for your past elsewhere."

Rephaim didn't move. He waited for Neferet to look at him. And then quietly, distinctly, he said, "I see you for what you are."

"Begone!" she shrieked.

He stood and started to back away from the Sword Master and his group of Warriors, but Alena took his hand and stopped his retreat.

"Where you go, I'll follow," she said.

He shook his head. "I don't want you to be kicked out of your home because of me."

Looking a little shy, Alena touched his face.

"Haven't you heard that home is where the heart is?"

He covered her hand with his. Not trusting his voice, he nodded and smiled at her. _Smiling_—it was incredible how good it felt!

Alena pulled her hand gently from his.

"I'm going with them," Stevie Rae spoke to the crowd. "I'm gonna start another House of Night in the tunnels under the depot. It's not as nice there as it is here, but it's a whole heck of a lot friendlier."

"You cannot begin a House of Night without approval of the High Council," Neferet snapped.

The watching crowd's whispers of shock reminded Rephaim of summer wind sloughing through the grasses of the ancient prairie—the sound was endless and pointless, unless you were taking wing.

Zoey Redbird's voice broke through the throng. "If you have a vampyre queen, and you agree to stay out of vampyre politics, the High Council will pretty much leave you alone." She smiled at Stevie Rae.

"Coincidentally enough, I have just been kinda sorta made a queen. How 'bout I come with Alena and Rephaim? I'll take friendly over fancy any day."

"I'll come, too," Damien said. He looked one last time on the smoldering pyre. "I choose to make a fresh start."

"We're coming," Shaunee said.

"Ditto, Twin," Erin echoed. "Our room was too small here, anyway."

"But we'll come back for our stuff," Shaunee said.

"Oh, hells yes," Erin agreed.

"Shit," Aphrodite said. "I knew it when this nightblew up. I just knew it. It sucks like Tulsa not having a Nordstrom, but I'm damn sure not staying here, either."

While Aphrodite leaned against her Warrior and sighed dramatically, each of the red fledglings stepped forward.

Leaving the crowd, they made their way to stand beside Rephaim and Alena, Zoey and Stark, and the rest of their circle—the rest of their friends.

"Does this mean I can't be Poet Laureate of all the vampyres?" Kramisha asked as she joined them.

"No one but Nyx can take that away from you," Zoey said.

"Good. She was just here and she didn't fire me. So I guess I'm okay," Kramisha said.

"You're nothing if you leave! None of you are!" Neferet cried.

"Well, Neferet, it's like this," Zoey said. "Sometimes nothing and your friends equals a whole lot of something."

"That doesn't even make sense," Neferet said.

"To you it wouldn't," Rephaim said, putting his arm around Alena's shoulders.

"Let's go home," Alena said, sliding her arm around Rephaim's totally, completely human waist.

"Sounds good to me," Zoey said, taking Stark's hand.

"Sounds good like butter on a corn stick!" Stevie Rae said as Dallas grabbed her hand.

"Sounds like we got us a bunch of cleaning to do to me," Kramisha muttered as they started to walk away.

"The Vampyre High Council will hear of this," Neferet called after them.

Zoey paused long enough to yell back over her shoulder, "Yeah, well, we won't be hard to reach. We have internet and everything. Plus, a bunch of us will be back because we'll be taking classes. This is still our school, even if it isn't our home."

"Oh, great. It's like we're being bussed in from the fucking projects," Aphrodite said.

"What are the projects?" Rephaim asked Alena.

She beamed a smile up at him and said, "It means we're coming from a totally different place that some people don't think is so great."

"I'm hoping for urban renewal," Aphrodite grumbled.

Rephaim knew his expression was a huge question mark when Alena laughed and hugged him. "Don't worry. We'll have plenty of time for me to explain this modern stuff. For now all you need to know is that we're together and that Aphrodite usually isn't very nice."

Alena stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, and Rephaim let her taste and touch drown out the voices of his past and the haunting memory of the wind under his wings …


	49. Rephaim 49

Rephaim followed Alena to her room down in the tunnel, not once letting her go.

Zoey and Stark had retrieved to their rooms, Aphrodite and Darius had gone to theirs, the twins went to another and Damien went to another with Duchess and Cameron.

Alena kept yawning as Dawn kept getting closer and closer. Rephaim still wasn't used to walking in this, _human _body but it also filled him with joy being able to touch Alena the way he could only wish of doing.

"Since everyone is knocked out, I'm thinking we should just sleep. It's almost Dawn and you…well…" She trailed off as she went into her room, pushing aside her curtain.

He knew what she meant. It was his consequence for doing all those horrible things he had done in the past under his father's influence.

He shuddered at the thought and felt a moment of remorse as he thought about what he had done.

Alena felt his sadness and turned towards him. "Don't worry, Rephaim. It wasn't your fault. Nyx forgave you and let you be what you really wanted."

She walked up to him and hugged him, burrowing her face in his chest, feeling weird since he had no feathers anymore.

She giggled.

"What is it?'" Rephaim asked as she stared up at him. "I keep forgetting your not part raven anymore. I was used to having your chest filled with feathers like a stuffed pillow."

"Oh, will you miss it?"

"Of course, but I'll get over it. I mean, I like _this _body way better. You look really hot."

"Hot?" he asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

"It means you look really pretty. Hot just means your too pretty."

"Is that a bad thing?" He asked haltingly.

"No! That's good. Really good."

He held her tightly as she continued to rub her face against his chest, which Rephaim was finding quite comfortable.

Alena moved as if she were going to leave Rephaim's arms but his hold only got tighter.

She looked at him, his eyes, his face, the way he seemed to be sparkling with the amount of love that filled him when he looked at her.

She felt the heat rising in her body as she looked upon the man she loved.

"Kiss me," Alena finally murmured. She needed to taste him again, she wanted him to make her forget everything that was going on.

Rephaim's lips found hers instantly, sending the spark and shivers all over their bodies. The kiss was slow, comforting, and passionate at first, but then it built into something stronger.

Instinct began to take over Rephaim as he struggled with this new emotion that threatened to consume him.

Instinct told him what to do and he did, surprising himself as he swept her up and kissed her hard, as her arms wrapped around his neck.

He felt breathless with urgency.

_I just want to make her feel good. _

Still clutching her, he carried her towards the bed, laying her gently down to the mattress.

He wanted to pull away but Alena's hold on him got stronger.

"No," she whispered as she stared at him. "No, don't stop. just kiss me. make me feel good."

"But I feel…I want…"

"Yes," she said seductively.

"I don't know what to make of this…need… I have for you."

She giggled and pulled him down until his forehead rested against her as his hands were on the bed on either side of her bed, careful not to press his body against her.

"That's normal. You're _a human_, a boy human. It's totally normal. I'm feeling it too."

"But what do you call this?"

"Love, silly. Except stronger."

Rephaim never felt this before. The only thing he knew was pain, power, and discipline.

It was like he wanted to make her feel good and know that he could be the only one who satisfied her needs.

She was kissing his neck, causing him to shudder in response. "Alena…" his voice was rough when an image of her drinking from him came to his mind.

He was feeling something, something that wasn't his. What was it?

"Shh, don't ask. Just _feel_." She whispered in his ears as she lifted her hips to his, causing him to automatically clutch her hip hard.

He heard her gasp as he did this and pulled away.

He didn't even think about why he did it but what she did made him feel really good, amazing and he wanted more.

"Did I hurt you? Are you…"

"Shh, you didn't hurt me…" her voice was rough and he realized she was feeling something he didn't have a name for. "I was surprised but I liked it…"

She was kissing his shoulder as her hands roamed his chest, causing his muscles to contract under her touch.

He realized he liked it and didn't want her to stop. A moan escaped from his mouth as her hands roamed down to his stomach and back up again.

"Doesn't that feel good?" she murmured against his ear, causing him to automatically press into her, causing her to groan, which he realized he liked the sound of it.

"Alena…" he began to kiss her, a flame was igniting inside him and he felt Alena's emotions go through him.

_Love, passion, lust_

Lust? She was feeling lust?

"Yes," she whispered as she kicked off her flats and socks. "I want you to make love to me, Rephaim."

"Love?" he questioned. He didn't know what she meant. He didn't know what she was saying. Her eyes were filled with love and something he recognized as lust.

"Yes, please, I want you. Don't you want me?"

He was confused. He knew there was something she wanted but he didn't understand _what _she wanted.

"Alena, I do not know what…you…want."

"Don't worry," she said, placing her forehead against his. "Just _feel. _Just kiss me."

So, he did. He kissed her but she was responding urgently and that _feeling_ was consuming him again. He was on top of her as they kissed and she roamed her hands on his shoulders and chest.

He shuddered at her touch, feeling pleasure course through him.

_I want to feel more _he thought.

Instinct took over and he heard her sigh as he pressed his body down into hers, feeling her pleasure and feeling her warmth.

He felt hot, almost feverish as his hands moved swiftly over her body. Alena whimpered her breath warm against his ear, her legs entangled with his. The warm, softness of her body nestled into him, making his head spin

He thought he hurt her but she said, "No," using her strength to lock him in place. "Don't stop. whatever you hear from me is a response to what I feel, what _you _make me feel."

She kissed him again, erasing his worry and letting himself succumb to her emotions.

He groaned and rubbed harder against her, his fingers digging into her hips.

He felt frenzied and desperate, and he struggled to calm his frantic hands.

Her skin was ultrasensitive, and everywhere Rephaim touched, he scalded her, but in a very, very good way because Alena needed to be touched.

He bent over her, burying his nose into her hair, indulging in her intoxicating smell.

Her arms reached around his neck, angling his face towards hers.

He felt her lips sweep across his before her tongue flicked against the corner of his mouth, drawing a small growl from his throat.

Lips parted, he kissed her harder, his tongue demanding as it glided along hers.

She couldn't help but moan against his lips as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulling her into him, her body molding perfectly into his.

The warmth of his skin burned through her shirt and excitement fluttered in her belly.

Rephaim's let instinct guide him while feeling her emotions attack him, exciting him.

He felt a rush of blood head down but didn't pay much mind to it when he felt her hands in his hair, pulling him down and kissing him like she never wanted to stop.

He didn't want her to stop. He wanted to make her feel good and was proud that he was doing, knowing that those sounds that came from her lips aroused him he realized he wanted to hear them, to know he was doing something right.

After they had shed off their clothing, or lack thereof, did Rephaim froze. He was throbbing painfully and he was aching to be in her.

"Please…" She begged and slowly, carefully did he enter her.

She gasp as she felt his length go in her, breaking through her wall and she whimpered softly.

"Alena, I am sorry I'll…" He started to pull out but she had pulled him tight around his neck.

"No, just wait…It's okay…" She whispered. She kissed him until she gave him the go ahead.

Automatically his body knew what to do. He started to pull out and she moaned as each time he moved back in and out.

Becoming encouraged by her moaning, he continued until he felt Alena kiss his pulse point then graze her teeth against his skin.

He growled softly in her ear, he knew what he wanted and whispered, grunting as thrusted in her. "Go ahead."

She nicked his skin with her teeth and as soon as her lips surrounded the bite, pleasure exploded both in them, becoming almost painful in its intensity.

Rephaim was groaning as she continued to drink his blood.

The buildup started in the pit of his stomach; it was so strong he thought he might actually explode from it.

They both began to feel it, the building, the tension, the unexplainable light that began burning within them.

And then it happened, an overwhelming explosion of pure pleasure, love, warmth, comfort… everything.

Every feeling, every emotion that they possessed for one another filled and overwhelmed both of them and seemed to last forever.

When they came to, she pulled away and licked his wound, closing it instantly.

Rephaim was shaking and sweating with aftershocks of the euphoric feeling. He had never experienced this before and he enjoyed it.

He stared down at her and she was smiling up at him with an adorable blush to her cheeks.

He found himself smiling at her image as he could see the love and pleasure in her eyes.

"That was…" She began.

"Beautiful…"He replied, breathless. He pulled out of her but still remained over her.

"I love you, Rephaim." She whispered as she traced his bottom lip. His insides warmed up at her words.

"I am in love with you also, Alena." He replied as she kissed him tenderly. He felt sleepy but peaceful.

"We should sleep." She replied as Rephaim moved from her to lay by her side.

"As you wish." He answered. She snuggled to him and breathed him in as he carefully wrapped his arms around her.

She pulled the sheets over them and pressed her body against his.

_Peace, love and happiness._

That was how she felt with him.

He tightened his grip on her, never wanting to let go, never will let go as they drifted off to sleep.


End file.
